Finding Love
by Lady Lockwood
Summary: No curse AU. Emma Swan, a young Krav Maga instructor, meets the gorgeous high school principal, Regina Mills. Both women just want to find love. Can they find it with each other?
1. Chapter 1

_Alright guys, this is basically the story of how I got to the point I am today, which is getting ready to marry the love of my life in a little under two months. I've been on a big SwanQueen kick and thought these two ladies fit us perfectly. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

Emma Swan loved the outdoors; so did her Husky, Hughes. Playing catch with her dog helps Emma to relax and just unwind after the week is over. Every Saturday she'd take her pup to the park and play with him for a couple of hours. While waiting for Hughes to come back with his tennis ball, a slight breeze swept across Emma's face. Closing her eyes, she reveled in the feeling of the autumn wind, not hearing the sniffles and crunching of leaves quickly approaching her.

A small weight colliding with her legs managed to get Emma's attention. Looking down, the blonde noticed a small boy holding on to her legs for dear life and crying. Crouching down to be eye level with the child, Emma tried to calm him down. "Hi there, kiddo. My name is Emma. What's yours?" The boy brought his balled up fists to his eyes and rubbed them before speaking. "My name is Henry. I don't know where my m-mommy is." Emma looked at the boy trying to see if she's seen him before. With his dark brown hair and brown eyes this boy was adorable. "Okay Henry, which direction did you come from?"

After Henry pointed behind him, he immediately stopped crying when he noticed Hughes sitting beside them wagging his tail and waiting for his ball to be thrown again. "I heard your doggie and wanted to play with him. C-can I?" With that said, Emma figured the boy's mother wasn't that far behind. "Let's get you to your mom and see what she says about you playing with him."

Henry nodded and after Emma stood up he put his arms in the air with the silent request of wanting to be picked up. Smiling, Emma picked up the boy and deposited Henry on her hip and started walking in the direction Henry said he came from. "So how old are you, Kid?" Lifting his head up from Emma's shoulder, Henry became very excited about being asked his age. "I'm four! How old are you?" Just as she was about to reply, Emma heard a woman yelling out Henry's name.

Looking toward the voice, Emma saw a woman running towards her and the boy in her arms, who was wiggling from excitement at being found by his mom. As soon as Henry's feet hit the ground he sped off towards his mother and Emma stood back and watched mother and child reunite while giving Hughes some pats on the head. "Oh Henry! Don't ever go off like that again. I was so scared." Emma noticed Henry shared the same shade of dark brown hair with his mother and wondered if they shared the same colored eyes as well.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I just wanted to play with Emma's doggie." Emma looked up at hearing her name and saw the woman making her way over with Henry still wrapped up in his mother's arms. "Thank you so much for finding my Henry. He's never run off like that before and I was so scared that something had happened to him." Finally getting a good look at the woman's face, Emma realized that, yes, both of them did share the same colored eyes as well and that this woman was absolutely gorgeous. "You're welcome but unfortunately it was kind of my fault. Apparently he heard my dog and wanted to come play with him."

The brunette chuckled and rolled her eyes at her son who was now playing with Hughes. "Of course. He's been begging me for a dog and that's all he draws lately. My name is Regina Mills, by the way." Regina stuck her hand out for Emma to shake. "Emma Swan. It's very nice to meet you, Regina. That's such a beautiful name. Suits you well." Not knowing where the courage came from to say that, Emma decided to play it off coolly but was pleased to see Regina blush while shyly looking away with a small smile on her lips.

Regina opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by her son. "Emma! Make Hughes run far!" Both women looked down to see Henry holding the tennis ball up for Emma to take. "Sure thing, Kid." Emma then stepped out further in to the field where Hughes was waiting for her to throw the ball. All four sets of eyes were trained on something; Hughes' were set on the ball in his master's hand, Emma's were looking at where she was going to throw the ball, Henry's was watching Hughes, and Regina's were locked on the blonde.

After throwing the ball pretty far, Emma put her hands in the back pocket of her jeans while watching Henry laugh and chase after Hughes when the dog decided he didn't want to give the ball to Henry. After a while Henry managed to pull Emma in to a game of tag and the whole time Regina's eyes never left the blonde playing with her child.

"Alright Kid, you and Hughes wore me out. I think I'm going to sit down now." Turning from the pouting face, Emma dragged herself to the bench that Regina had sat down on. "Boy, your kid has lots of energy." Chuckling, Regina pulled a water bottle out of her bag and passed it to the blonde. "Yes, he is a very energetic child. Apparently I was the same way when I was his age." Regina watched as Emma downed the whole bottle in one setting. "Oh, that's so much better. Thank you."

Turning to look at the brunette, Emma noticed that she was being watched intensely by brown eyes so she gave Regina a lopsided grin. Regina couldn't help but return a smile of her own. "You're very welcome." There was an awkward silence as Emma tried to think of something to say but just kept drinking her water since she thought of nothing. Regina decided to break the silence, "I have to say: Hughes is an interesting name choice for a dog." Emma chuckled and started rubbing the back of her neck. "Well I'm really in to anime- hey don't roll your eyes. Not all anime is weird. Anyway, in one of my favorite shows my favorite character, named Hughes, dies and well…I just decided to name my pup Hughes whenever I got him."

Regina chuckled while slowly shaking her head. "I'll try not to judge you for liking anime, dear. How old is your 'pup', as you called him?" Emma gave a toothy smile at the teasing tone in Regina's voice. She found herself becoming more attracted to this woman as time went on. This straight and possibly _married_ woman, Emma mused. Oh well, not like anything will come of it. Plus, most likely she'll never run in to Regina again after today.

"He's only three but he's very well behaved and I've trained him to do some neat tricks." Emma smiled, quite proud of herself for having trained him, by herself she adds, to do some very cool tricks. Regina smiles and then raises a questioning eyebrow. "How old are you, if you don't mind my asking?" The blonde smirks and raises an eyebrow herself before replying, "I'll answer only if you tell me how old you are."

Emma's eyes were drawn to plush, red lips curled up in to a smirk. She hoped she hadn't been staring long before Regina replied to her. "You drive a hard bargain but fine. I'm 31 years old." The blonde nodded, she has always been horrible at guessing people's ages but she had figured the other woman was in her early thirties. Regina looked young but had an air of maturity about her, especially with her pantsuit and heels. Emma's brows furrowed when she really took notice at what Regina was wearing. "That makes you seven years older than me. I'm 24. I'm curious, Regina. It's a Saturday and you're at the park with your son yet you're in a pantsuit and heels."

The older woman looked down at herself. "Yes I am. I just got out of a meeting at the school but I had to bring Henry with me since this meeting was last minute. Since he was such a gentlemen I decided to just brought him here afterwards." At the mention of the boy's name, both women looked out to see Henry swinging while Hughes watched over him. Emma chuckled and slightly tilted her head at her dog being protective over the young boy before speaking. "I'm going to assume you work there?"

Without taking her eyes off her son, Regina answered, "I'm the principal at the high school." Emma turned to look at the woman sitting next to her and subtly, she hoped, eyed the woman. "Principal. Well, that explains the power suit." Regina turned her gaze on to Emma with a raised eyebrow. "Of course, dear. How else am I going to show the children who's in charge?" The blonde's head fell back as she laughed. "I was thinking more about showing the parents who is boss." Regina just hummed in response and looked back at her still swinging son.

Again, Emma felt at a loss as what to say. Normally she doesn't have trouble coming up with things to say to keep conversation going with people but her brain just didn't seem to want to function quite as quickly with this gorgeous woman next to her. Luckily for her, the brunette filled the silence. "Tell me, what is it that you do?"

"I am a Krav Maga instructor. I started taking lessons when I was 10 and got my black belt when I was 17. Two years ago I moved here and the instructor wanted me to start teaching so, I teach some adult classes but I mainly teach the kids. I'm actually starting college on Monday. I want to own my own school so I'm taking business classes." Emma had kept her eyes on Henry while she had spoken and was slightly aware that brown eyes were studying her. "I hear Krav Maga is an intense martial arts. What made you decide to start taking it?"

Slowly, Emma took in a deep breath. "Unfortunately not all children get a loving environment like that kid right there." She pointed towards Henry before continuing. "I grew up in the system. There are all of these horror stories about kids having bad foster parents, they're not quite as common as you would think but unfortunately for me it was true. I felt the need to defend myself at some point and I ended up loving the art so I just continued." Feeling embarrassed on how heavy she made the conversation, Emma decided to not take her eyes off of Henry to look at the boy's mother. "I would love to watch you teach it some time, Emma."

With that said, Regina looked down at her watch, noticed the time, and stood. "It's getting late. I need to take him home and get dinner started." Emma looked at her own watch and saw that it was nearing five. "Oh wow, it is getting late." From her peripherals she could tell that the brunette was biting her lower lip, so she looked up at her, but as soon as her eyes hit their target Regina quickly turned her head towards her son and called out to him. "Henry! It's time to go home!" Once Henry started running towards the adults Emma stood up and whistled for Hughes to come to her. Once the two who were summoned reached the women, Henry attached himself to Emma's legs.

"Mommy. I still want to play with her doggie and Emma. We still need to play tag." Regina didn't get a chance to say anything, though she opened her mouth in order to, because Emma spoke. "I am here every Saturday at noon. Anytime you want to come play with Hughes and me just ask your mom, okay?" She then looked at Regina with a huge, toothy grin. Regina chuckled, slightly shook her head, and then looked at her son. "If you are very good this week and ask very nicely, I will probably bring you here to play with Emma and Hughes next Saturday." Henry looked up at his mother in excitement. "By Emma! I will see you Sa'urday!"

Both women chuckled at the boy. "I'll see you then, Henry. He is so sure of himself, isn't he?" Regina shook her head and playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes he is. Sounds like I will see you next week. Very nice meeting you, Emma and thank you so much again." Emma shot her biggest smile at the older woman, "My pleasure and it was very nice meeting you as well." On her way back home with Hughes by her side, Emma couldn't help but be excited about seeing the Mills duo again next week.


	2. Chapter 2

_Yay! An update. Hopefully y'all are excited about it as I am since I've been focusing on other things and almost forgot I had the second chapter ready. But here it is so enjoy! Also, to help with my writing skills (if anybody reads these) I can take prompts for one-shots and post those as I'm working on this. It also shows me if anybody actually reads these hehe. Ok, I'm done now._

* * *

Slowly waking up, Emma realized that there was a heavy weight on her back. "Ruby, it's a Friday. Neither of us have classes and it's…ugh Rubes! It's 6 am. I should not be awake right now." Ruby proceeded to bounce up and down on Emma's back. "You know Em, I'm still upset that cat thinks you're her mom and not me." Emma looked over at the little grey tabby curled up against her arm while glaring at Ruby for making the bed bounce. "It's because you didn't know what to do when we first brought her home so naturally she bonded with me."

The previous year, when Ruby and Emma were out for a walk, they heard a very pitiful mew. The girls spotted the tiny kitten and decided to take her to the vet. Ruby tried to pick her up but the kitten hissed at her so Emma tried. Going slowly and sweetly talking to the scared animal, the kitten decided to let Emma pick her up. Emma realized that the animal was just the size of her palm. The veterinarian said the kitten was about 8 weeks old and just dehydrated. Ruby and Emma named her Jade because of the color of her eyes. Ruby had never really been around cats, and also being a dog person, didn't know how to treat the cat. Emma, on the other hand, just loved animals so Jade decided that the blonde was her mother.

"But Hughes didn't even like me when I came back in to your life." Emma chuckled at that understatement. At one point, the two girls were foster sisters. They had grown very attached to each other and tried their best to always be together. When they were seventeen an older woman, who everyone calls Granny, adopted Ruby. Unfortunately, Granny lived in a small town called Storybrooke and Emma had no idea where that was. By this time, Emma had started traveling around for tournaments and the girls lost touch, though neither stopped trying to find each other.

When the women were twenty-one Emma was traveling north through Maine and happened upon Storybrooke. Her instructor wanted to just blow through the tiny town but the blonde had to just say one word, Ruby, and her instructor immediately agreed to the young woman's request. With it being lunch time the duo headed to the only diner in town. As soon as Emma entered through the door a crashing sound and a half sob, half scream version of her name filled the air.

As soon as the blonde turned toward the source of the noises, she was engulfed in a bear hug by a brunette who picked her up when she stood to her full height. When Emma finally got a look at the woman holding on to her, she immediately wrapped her arms around the woman she had been looking for. Ruby only had to mention in passing that Emma should move in with her and the blonde agreed whole heartedly. When Emma moved in Hughes kept growling and barking at the brunette anytime she neared her sister. It took nearly six months before the dog realized that Ruby was no threat.

"Rubes, you know how protective he is of me. Plus he was only one at the time." Still sitting on Emma's back, Ruby went back to bouncing on her, earning another glare from Jade. "Anyway, that had nothing to do with why I came in here." When Ruby didn't explain why she had Emma sat up on all fours, knocking the other woman on to the floor. "That was very rude, Em! Now I won't tell you why I came in here."

Rolling her eyes, Emma just rolled over and cuddled back up with her cat. "Fine. I finally got up the courage to ask Belle out and she said yes!" Emma didn't move except to give Ruby a thumbs up. "Really, Em? After you pushing and pushing me to ask her out and I finally do all I get is a thumbs up?" Seeing no movement from the blonde, Ruby laid down completely flat on her sister, earning her yet another glare from Jade. "Rubes get off me! Ruby! Fine, fine. I give up. I'll get up and you can tell me how it happened. I honestly do not understand why you can't wait another hour or two."

Going in to the kitchen where Ruby was impatiently waiting, Emma grabbed herself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and sat down across from the brunette and looked at her expectantly. "Ok, ok. So yesterday I went to the library knowing that she'd be there since she's always there. I found her in the back at a table reading some romance novel, I'm sure. Anyway, I sit down and start talking to her like normal. It was getting time for us to leave since the library was about to close down. As we were walking to her car I asked her if she wanted to go on a date with me and she said yes!"

Emma had a spoonful of cereal heading to her mouth that froze. She slowly lowered it and started glaring at her sister. "You could not have told me that while you were sitting on me or waited a few more hours?" Emma started petting Hughes' head that was resting on her thigh while he begged for food. "No it couldn't have waited and I wanted you awake for this! The girl I've had a crush on for only four years is going on a date with me!"

Getting up to feed her dog, Emma sighed at the dopey look on her sister. "I'm really happy for you Rubes, I am. Just not happy that I'm awake when I could be sleeping in." The leggy brunette ran up to the blonde and wrapped her arms around the other woman's shoulders. "We just need to find you a girl." As she felt a blush rising, Emma hoped that Ruby wouldn't see it. "Ohmygosh Em! You've found one! Who is she? When did you meet her? And why haven't you told me about this girl?!"

Sighing, she got out of Ruby's grip and went back to her cereal. "First of all: she's a woman, not a girl. Secondly: she's probably married and no doubt straight. Also, I doubt she'd be interested in me anyway. Her name is Regina Mills and we met Saturday when her son wanted to play with Hughes and she couldn't find him." At Ruby's shocked face, Emma raised a questioning eyebrow. "Regina Mills? Seriously, Ems? She's the Evil Queen!"

"What? Evil Queen? But she was so sweet." Emma glared at Ruby shaking her head. "I'm not surprised you haven't met her before since you've been here only for two years and you're always traveling for tournaments, but this is a small town and everyone who's been here long enough knows to stay away from her even though she's only a principal. All the little kids are afraid of her. She's a bitch, Emma."

Emma bristled at that. "Don't call her that! She's not a bitch. Henry wasn't afraid of her and he's her son. Actually, he seemed to love her very much. He has a loving mother so don't talk down about her." Ruby put her hands up in surrender. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'll never talk bad about her again. If it makes you feel any better she's not married. I don't know about her sexuality though. The whole seven years I've been here I've never seen her with anybody. Just remember the surprise when she got pregnant."

"Doesn't matter anyway. Even if she were gay, there's no way she'd want someone as immature as me." Ruby frowned at her from across the table. "You know that's not right, Em. Granny always teases that she should've adopted you since you're more mature than me. You just have a playful side, that's all. She'd be lucky to have you." Emma smiled at those words. "Thanks, Rubes. Guess I'll go take Hughes for a walk since someone decided to wake me up."

Saturday finally rolled around, so Emma was at the park playing with Hughes and keeping an eye out for the two Mills she was looking forward to seeing. Emma decided to wear a tank top of hers that she knew that if anybody were attracted to her they wouldn't be able to keep their eyes off her body. Emma was very proud of her body; doing Krav Maga for the past seventeen years really helps give her a toned body. She had also purposefully taken off her jacket so her arms and shoulders were visible.

Finally she heard the voice of a little four year old. "Emma! Hughes! I came to play!" Right after turning towards the boy, said boy collided with her legs. "Hey there, Kid. I was hoping you'd show up today." Emma then bent down and picked up Henry right as Regina came in to view. "O' course I came. I was a good boy." Chuckling, Regina ran her hand through her son's hair. "Of course you were, sweetie. Hello, Emma. Good to see you again."

Emma put down a squirming boy so he could go play with Hughes. When green eyes finally made their way over to the brunette, they watched as Regina quickly brought her eyes up and a blush making its way across lightly tanned cheeks. Internally, Emma was doing a happy dance. "It's good to see you too, Regina. How was your week?" The older woman sighed and made her way towards the bench. "Rough. Some of the faculties are not happy with where the funds are going. Almost everyone expected it to go towards the sport teams, mainly for the football team, but instead I had it go towards bettering our school materials. Of course that's when it all hit the fan this week. Today was the only thing I looked forward to."

A huge shit-eating grin broke out on Emma's face. "Aww that's so sweet." Again, Regina blushed and avoided eye contact with Emma. "Yes, well…how was your week?" The smile never left her face as she turned to look out towards Henry and Hughes. "It was boring. It was syllabus week for all of my classes. Thankfully I'm done before noon everyday. But today was the only thing I was looking forward to as well."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Regina eyeing her body again. At least she's attracted to me, but that doesn't mean she'd be interested in a relationship with me, Emma thought. Determined to not let her thoughts get her down, Emma jumped up and joined Henry in a game of tag. After thirty minutes of chasing both boy and dog, Emma headed back over to the bench. Regina already had a water bottle out ready for her. "Oh, thank you Regina."

The two women continued to talk, with Henry dragging Emma over to play tag some more, until it started to get late. "I was thinking, Regina, that I would love to meet up with either just you or you and the kid during the week instead of waiting till the weekend." When Regina just looked at the blonde and didn't say anything, Emma regretted mentioning it and started to ramble. "Of course that's only if you want. I just don't have many friends here and I enjoy your company but I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do."

It seemed that Emma's ramble knocked Regina out of her daze. "Oh Emma, I would love to get together with you. It's just that I thought…never mind. Let's swap numbers so we can get plans together." As Regina was pulling out her phone, Emma took this time to study the woman before her. It sounded like Regina was going to say she thought that Emma wouldn't want to get together with her. Emma started thinking there was more to this Evil Queen story that Ruby doesn't know.

After the women swapped numbers they stood up from the bench to get ready to leave. "Cool. I'll text you here in a couple of days so we can get plans together." Regina smiled at the younger woman and called Henry over to her. After picking Henry up, Regina turned towards Emma. "I will talk to you in a couple of days then, dear. Have a great rest of your weekend."

"You too, Regina. Bye Henry." Emma proceeded to ruffle Henry's hair who then tried to ruffle hers back but she was a little out of reach. Leaning forward just a tiny bit, she let the four year old ruffle her hair. "Your hair is softer than Hughes' fur!" Emma laughed and stuck a silly pose while running her hand through her hair. "I take good care of this crazy mane of mine." Emma then looked at Regina, who looked like she wanted to run her hand through Emma's blonde locks. The blonde decided to tease/flirt with her at that moment, so donning a smirk she leaned towards the older woman.

"You want to run your hand through my hair too?" Emma could have sworn the other woman looked like she was just about to do it until she shook her head with a slight blush taking residence on her cheeks. "I'll just take your and Henry's word for it, dear. I'll talk with you later." Grinning like a fool, Emma just waved at the two retreating Mills. She most definitely couldn't wait to set up plans with the gorgeous woman.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update but a hyper child, hyper dog, and an open laptop on the bed do not mix well. Anyway, it's finally fixed even though it felt like it never would be. Thank you for your patience, at least I hope y'all been patient with me. As an apology I'll try to post the next chapter within the next few days. So without further ado, chapter three. Yay!_

* * *

Monday rolled around and Emma was getting restless. She was only half way through her only class of the day and she was ready to text Regina but she didn't want to seem desperate. Honestly, she was surprised that the older woman even agreed to hang out with her. Emma found herself, instead of listening to the lecture, daydreaming of chocolate brown eyes, luscious red lips, and a cute scar right above those lips.

Realizing she had daydreamed half of her class away, Emma accidentally let out a loud groan. "Every thing all right, Miss Swan?" Emma noticed that everyone was looking at her and her professor had a questioning eyebrow raised. "Sorry professor. Tweaked by back during my workout yesterday and when I moved just then it hurt something fierce." Seemingly satisfied, her professor nodded and went back to her lesson. As soon as class let out, Emma quickly sent Regina a text.

 _E: Hey Regina. Was wondering if you wanted to make plans for tomorrow evening?_

Emma pocketed her phone and started to head home when she heard her name being called. Turning she saw Ruby and Belle walking towards her. "I see since y'all are holding hands that the date went well last night?" Belle smirked at Emma before looking lovingly up at Ruby. Ruby on the other hand started blushing fiercely. "Actually, Ruby here was a total nervous klutz. She hit a waiter and knocked all the food he was carrying on to some poor old lady. Then she spilled her drink on to herself making her knock over my drink on to me. We both got kicked out but I managed to talk her down from being so nervous and we just watched a movie at my place."

Ruby looked like she was trying to get the ground to swallow her whole while Emma was trying to hold in her laughter. After a few seconds, Emma's attempt failed and she started guffawing. "That's hilarious! Ms. Ruby-I'm-so confident-about-everything-that-nothing-makes-me-nervous-Lucas was hitting waiters and knocking over drinks. I wish I could have seen that!" Once the blonde's laughter died down, she looked over at her sister who was glaring at her. "Oh really, Emma? Then why don't you ask your crush on a date, hm? I asked mine out."

Emma raised an eyebrow at the smug looking brunette. "Ask out the most likely straight and married woman? Even if she were available and gay I doubt she'd want to go out with someone seven years her junior. And yes, you did ask your crush out, Ruby, but it took you four years to do so." The smug look quickly fell off of Ruby's face and her eyes suddenly found the ceiling very interesting. "It took you four years to ask me out? I'm not _that_ intimidating, am I? It's understandable that I would be afraid to ask _you_ out." Ruby just turned to glare at her sister.

"Thanks, Em, for sharing that piece of information that was never supposed to reach her ears!" Emma just shrugged while offering Ruby a lopsided grin. "Anything to help you, sis! Anyway, was there anything in particular you two wanted?" Both brunettes look at Emma blankly for a few seconds before remembering why they were there in the first place. "Oh yeah! Granny is trying a new recipe for pancakes and she said that the three of us could be her guinea pigs for free!" Not one to turn down free food, Emma joined the two girls for pancakes.

Ruby and Belle shared a knowing look when Emma checked her phone. "Emma, you've been checking your phone every five seconds for the past 20 minutes. You'll know when she replies to you." The blonde looks at her sister with a blush on her cheeks. "How d'you know what I'm checking my phone for?" At the smirks coming from both of the brunettes, Emma rolled her eyes while pocketing her phone. "Fine. It's gone. These new pancakes are amazing!"

As Emma was walking to her dojo, she was regretting how many pancakes she ate. As soon as the blonde arrived the children who attend her class swarmed her. "Woah! Hey there guys! Everyone ready for class to start?" A collective 'yes' filled the room, which Emma replied in telling the kids to line up. After the children's class was done, Emma quickly checked her phone before having to teach the adult class. Still there was no reply from Regina. The blonde figured that the older woman had a busy day and was now having dinner with Henry and that's why she hadn't replied yet. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. Fear was slowly making its way in to Emma's thoughts but the blonde tried to shake it.

Emma decided to not torture herself by checking her phone in between teaching the adults and taking her own class. As soon as her class was over, though, Emma was checking her phone. She felt butterflies when she saw that Regina had finally replied.

 _R: Hello Emma. It's so good to see you not using texting shorthand. I fear for today's society. Today was hectic so I apologize for getting back to you so late. If you're still awake I could call you to set up plans for tomorrow. If not I can just call you in the morning._

 _E: Just doing my part to help society! ;) Figured your day was busy so it's all good. Nope it's not too late. Call away!_

A minute after she sent that text she was soon being called by Regina. Emma sat down on a bench she was near before she answered the call.

"Hello, Regina. Hectic day, huh?"

A sigh was heard coming from the other end of the line. "Yes it was. Had to deal with several kids who decided to start fights. I also had a meeting with some parents about their dislike for the curriculum, as if we just all of a sudden started using a different one. The meeting ran longer than I thought it would so I was fifteen minutes late picking up Henry, who thought I decided I didn't want him anymore. So he was really clingy today. In order to make it up to him I made him dino nuggets. After dinner I went to check my phone only to see that it had died on me, so I had to wait for it to charge and that was when I was able to reply to your text."

Emma chuckled before replying. "Wow. That is most definitely a hectic day. I just went to class, overstuffed myself with Granny's pancakes, and then taught and took my Krav Maga classes. My day was very simple."

"What I wouldn't give for a simple day. Anyway, I was thinking for tomorrow: why don't you just come on over to my house? I'm sure Henry would absolutely love to show you his room and I can cook you my lasagna. How does that sound, dear?"

"It sounds wonderful to me. I'd just hate to make you cook after a long day."

"It really is no problem, Emma."

A shiver ran down Emma's spine at hearing her name come from the other woman's lips. The blonde figured she'd never tire hearing the way Regina said her name. "Well, if it's no problem then sure, sounds great. What time would you like me to come over?"

"How about 6:00? That way Henry has plenty of time to show you what he wants to show you before we eat."

"Six is perfect."

"Excellent. I must cut this phone call short. Someone needs a bath and a bedtime story read to them so good night and I will see you tomorrow at six."

"I didn't know Henry knew how to read to you."

Emma heard Regina chuckle. "Funny, Emma."

"Oh I know. See you tomorrow."

"Yes, see you tomorrow."

Emma felt like she was walking on clouds all the way home. When Emma entered her home, she was greeted with a happy husky. "Hello Hughes! Yes I missed you too." The blonde was surprised when a pair of arms wrapped around her torso and picked her up. "What about me? Did you miss your sister?" Leaning her head back on Ruby's shoulder in order to look at the girl, she playfully glared at the tall woman. "I guess I missed you too, Rubes." Seemingly satisfied, Ruby put Emma back down. "So, has Regina finally replied to you?" Emma couldn't help the huge, toothy grin that spread across her face.

"She did and I'm having dinner at hers tomorrow. She's making lasagna. I'm going to be going over there at six so Henry has plenty of time to show me his room." Ruby laughed as she walked over to Emma, grabbed her shoulders, and started rocking her side to side. "You are so smitten, Em! Sounds like she is too. Don't give me that look. She invited you over to her house, she's cooking dinner for you, and she came up with an excuse to get you over there before dinner will be ready. Trust me, she likes you too." Stopping the rocking motion, Emma sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. "I really hope you're right, Rubes." Playfully rolling her eyes, Ruby quickly pushed the blonde, making her fall on to the couch and then sat on the coffee table in front of her.

"Ruby! What is wrong with you?" The lanky brunette just swatted at her sister's knee. "Nothing, now I have some things I've observed about Regina that I want to tell you. Every time she's come in to the diner I notice that she doesn't interact with anybody else, not like anybody tries to engage her in conversation. Sure she's very polite to me but, even I'm guilty of it, everyone calls her a bitch. Her no nonsense demeanor has given her the nickname 'Evil Queen'. I think her only friend is the vice principal, Kathryn. Em, the fact that she was open and warm with you from the start shows you that she is indeed interested in you."

Emma slowly nodded as she let the words sink in. "You have a very good point. That doesn't mean she wasn't looking for another friend from a fresh face though. I guess tomorrow I'll just whip out the good old Emma Swan charms." Ruby smirked at her sister. "What charms?" Emma glared at the other woman. "You know very well that I'm charming. You've witnessed it first hand." Sitting down on Emma's lap, Ruby wrapped her arms around the blonde's shoulders. "Oh that's what you think is charming? I think we have different definitions of the word." Emma stuck her tongue out before poking Ruby's side making her squirm.

"Very funny, Rubes." The brunette nodded in agreement before giving Emma a kiss to her forehead and promptly jumping on to her feet. "I know it's late but I'll be with Belle all day tomorrow and I want to help you pick out your outfit for your date." Ruby winked at Emma before heading to the blonde's room. Emma let out a loud groan before following behind Ruby thinking it was a good idea to be ready for tomorrow so she wouldn't panic. Well, panic anymore with having deciding what to wear to Regina's.


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello readers! A quick update was promised so here is the next chapter. I will try to not let another month go by without updating. I know how it feels waiting for a story to be updated and I don't want to do that to you guys! Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy :)_

* * *

Emma nervously looked down at her clothes before ringing the doorbell. She was wearing her normal skinny jeans and boots but she was wearing a shear blouse that she had completely forgotten about and her normal red leather jacket on top. Ruby assured her that the blouse was perfect. She told Emma that it was nice but super casual and the way it hung on the blonde's body showed off her toned muscles nicely. Of course Ruby told her that while wiggling her eyebrows. A few seconds after ringing the doorbell, heavy footsteps could be heard inside the house followed by the front door being swung open.

"Emma!" An excited four year old leaped up and in to Emma's arms. "Hey there, Kid! How's my favorite Henry doing?" Giggling, Henry wrapped his arms around Emma's neck to give her a hug. "Excited! Come! You hafta see my room." After putting the boy on the ground, Emma was pulled in to Henry's room. She was being shown a whole bunch of different toys; Henry's favorite was Scales the dragon. With a lap full of toys Emma finally noticed the boy's mother watching them from the door. "Hey there, Regina. I would have come to say hi but I was dragged away by your son." Chuckling, Regina walked in to the room and knelt down beside Emma. "Hello to you, too. It is perfectly all right, dear. I knew he would do that once you arrived. How was your day?"

At a raised eyebrow from his mother, Henry started to take the toys off of Emma's lap. "My day was a whole lot simpler than yesterday. I don't have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays so today I slept in while cuddling with my cat, Jade. At around noon Hughes decided it was time for him to get some attention and wanted to go for his walk. After that I did some training for a tournament coming up in a few months and then I got ready to come here. And how was your day? Not too hectic I hope." Standing up, Emma smirked and silently thanked Ruby as she watched brown eyes travel over her body and then find their way back to Emma's breasts before admiring the blonde's muscular arms. Emma waited for the brunette to make eye contact but she didn't, instead she cleared her throat and quickly turned. She was quite possibly hiding a blush.

"Thankfully my day was normal and not hectic. I did normal principle things and then came home to prepare dinner; which is ready, by the way." Emma followed the woman but not before admiring a very cute ass. Biting her lower lip, Emma quickly turned around and scooped up Henry, putting him over her shoulder, before marching out to the kitchen. All the way from his room Henry was laughing at the top of his lungs. "Look, Mommy! I'm upside-down!" Emma turned around so he could see his mom. "I have an upside-down son! How is he going to wash his hands for dinner?"

Henry rested his elbow on Emma's back and put his chin in his hand. "I'll upside-down wash them!" The blonde walked over to the sink and then turned around and squatted a bit so the boy could reach the sink. Once he finished, Emma walked over to the kitchen table and acted like she was going to put the boy down on his head. "Emma no! I can't eat upside-down." The blonde decided to hold the boy by his ankles, still upside-down. Emma hid a smirk when Regina held her hand out as if she thought Emma would drop the four year old. "You can't just upside-down eat?"

Henry, thoroughly enjoying this attention from the woman, crossed his arms and glared up at Emma in a very Regina-isk way albeit upside-down. "The food needs to fall to my tummy, Emma. It won't fall if I upside-down eat." Nodding at the boy, Emma put him down on his feet to allow him to sit down. Emma then looked over to Regina who had been watching it all with a fond glint in her eye. The oven timer went off alerting Regina that the lasagna was done. Regina got it out of the oven while the younger woman washed her hands and then got her and the hostess something to drink.

Dinner was filled with Emma telling funny stories about the kids that she teaches, Regina telling about some things the teenagers at the high school try to get away with, and Henry telling about the different things he'd do in daycare. After dinner was done, Regina went up to get Henry ready for bed but not before forbidding Emma from cleaning up while she was upstairs. Of course that didn't stop Emma. The blonde had just finished washing the last dish before hearing 'I want Emma' being yelled and small feet thudding down the stairs. Emma started walking towards the stairs when the source of the noise collided with her legs.

"Emma, I want you to read me a bedtime story." The blonde picked the boy up and started heading up to Henry's room where she met Regina, who looked very frustrated. "Henry, you promised me that if Emma came over you would go to bed when I told you to." Regina started to walk toward her son, which made him bury his face in to Emma's neck. "I am going to bed, I just want Emma to read me a bedtime story." Regina looked helplessly to the woman who Henry was clinging to so tightly. "It's fine, Regina. Alrighty Henry, just one story. Which one do you want me to read?" Henry thought for a few moments before he made his mind up. "A new one!" His mother opened her mouth to say something but Emma cut her off. "A new one. Got it. It's a good thing my head is just full of stories." Emma put Henry in his bed and then sat down on the chair Regina normally uses to read stories. Henry snuggled up under his sheets and held on to Scales excitedly. Regina sat down on the end of Henry's bed.

"Once upon a time there was this young and handsome prince. Do you know what his name was?" Henry shook his head. "His name was Henry. Prince Henry." The young boy gasped and looked at his mom. "I'm in a story, Mommy!" Regina nodded and chuckled at his enthusiasm before Emma resumed her story. "Well, Prince Henry had just turned 18 so he was now an adult and ready to become the king. The prince walked in to the throne room to speak to his father. He said, "Father, I am now a man so it is time for me to be king."" Henry laughed at Emma lowering her voice to sound like a man. "The king shook his head at his son before speaking. "Prince Henry, though it is true you are a man, you must pass two tests before you can be king. You must first take down the dragon guarding a princess in a tower far from here. Then, after you have finished that, you must safely bring the princess back here in order to marry her." The prince bowed to his father before setting on his way to complete his tests.

"After two weeks of traveling, Prince Henry came upon a tall tower. Walking along the outside of the tower, the prince noticed that there was no door to get in but just before he could even try to look for a way to climb it a thunderous roar could be heard, startling Prince Henry." Emma took in a deep breath, roaring loudly with Henry joining her. With a slight growl in her voice as she spoke, Emma continued with her story. ""Who dares try to enter my tower? All shall feel the burn of my flame!" The dragon breathed fire so big that he almost burned the prince but Prince Henry was fast and managed to jump out of the way of the flame. Drawing his sword, Prince Henry was ready to face the dragon.

"A huge battle between prince and dragon broke out, lasting a month until both fighting became very tired. The prince walked up to the dragon to talk of peace. "Dragon, you fought very well. I beg of you, let me take the princess, who is in the tower, back to my castle so I may marry her if she so desires." The dragon looked over the prince before giving his answer. "Very well, Prince. You may do as you asked but all I ask of you is to let me come with her. It is my duty to guard her for the rest of her life." "Very well and since you will be coming with us, I would like to know your name."

""My name is Scales. What, Prince, is your name?" The prince patted Scales head. "My name is Henry."" At the mention of the dragon's name, Henry raised his stuffed dragon in to the air before clutching the toy to his chest tightly and whispering to the dragon. "You're in a story too, Scales." Both of the women giggled at the boy's reaction. "Prince Henry then climbed on to Scales' back and the dragon flew up to the top of the tower where the princess lived. The princess, named Violet, was very beautiful and agreed to marry the prince. On their way to the castle, the prince and princess fell in love with each other and were very eager to marry once they arrived. Shortly after the marriage Prince Henry became King Henry and he, Violet, and Scales lived happily ever after. The end."

Henry tiredly clapped before getting a kiss from his mother. After Henry rolled over both women made their way to Regina's study for a class of Regina's apple cider. "Thank you so much for doing that, Emma. That story was really good and I know he enjoyed it. How can you come up with a story like that just off the top of your head?" Emma didn't really want to talk about her days in foster care but knew that if they ever did enter in to a relationship then both of their pasts would be delved in to. "Growing up in the foster system, I was mainly in group homes and was always one of the oldest ones so I took it upon myself to look after the younger ones. A lot of them were scared and couldn't go to sleep without a story so I quickly learned how to think one up since there were no books for me to read."

Emma waited for the pity look but all she received was a sad look and a nod of the head. "That explains why you're so good with Henry then. Also, with the fact that you teach children Krav Maga so you're around them a lot, aren't you?" The blonde smiled being pleased with Regina's reply. "Oh yeah. It helps that I love kids so much." Emma looked at the other woman who seemed to be having an internal debate. "My father used to read me bedtime stories despite my mother thinking it was a waste of time. He would sneak in to my room and read to me." Emma noticed that Regina was starting to regret sharing even that tidbit from her past, why Emma wasn't sure. "Wow, no offense but just from that little bit you told me your mother sounds like a piece of work."

The brunette laughed while nodding. "Yes, she really is. She had decided that I was going to grow up to be a lawyer. Tried to groom me to think like the kind of lawyer that everyone hates. She claims that love is weakness and hasn't supported any of the relationships I've been in and probably never will. Daddy has always supported me, albeit quietly so he doesn't get a Cora Mills lashing." As soon as she finished speaking, a look of fear from sharing came across Regina's face. Loving the fact that this woman had willingly shared something with her and not wanting her to feel afraid, Emma decided to share some more as well. "I don't know how mothers are supposed to be from experience but I know they're not supposed to force their child to be or do something that's not them. They're also not supposed to be like mine. I was abandoned on the side of the highway. I don't even know who my parents are and growing up I never really had parents."

The blonde watched as the brunette took a gulp of her cider. "I fear that I am going to be just like my mother. I was hesitant about having a child in the first place but I really wanted one so I had Henry." Emma raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Really? Regina, you are such a wonderful mother. Henry is very loved and you're not trying to force him to be anything that he doesn't want to be. Growing up I would have loved to have had a mom just like you." Tears slowly started travelling down the brunette's cheeks. "You really think that I'm a wonderful mother?" Vigorously nodding, Emma scooted just a bit closer to the other woman and took one of her hands. "Of course I do. I wouldn't have said that if I didn't know it to be true. You have nothing to fear about that, Regina. Just keep being yourself and everything will work out."

Emma loved the bright smile that took over Regina's face and wanted to see it there all the time. She also wanted to be the cause of that smile, too. Emma looked at the clock and saw that it was getting late. "I should probably head home. I have my class tomorrow and I don't want to be falling asleep in it. Thank you so much for having me over here and cooking lasagna. It was wonderful and I had a fun time with you and Henry." Both women stood up and headed to the front door. "Thank you for coming, Emma. I too had a fun time. I am looking forward to getting together with you some more." When Emma turned towards Regina and unconsciously licked her lips, she saw brown eyes look down at the motion and continued to stare at Emma's lips. Deciding to be brave, Emma slowly leaned in and as she placed her lips on a smooth cheek, Emma was pretty certain she heard Regina's breath hitch. "Good night, Regina and I will talk with you later." Not being able to contain the huge smile on her face on the way to her car, Emma was now 100% certain that her feelings for Regina were reciprocated.


	5. Chapter 5

_Yay another update. I'm keeping my promise of not making ya'll wait a month :D though next month will be an exception as I will be getting married at the end of the month and things will start getting even busier the closer to the date it gets but I will try to update at least once. Maybe twice but no promises. Oh, and then the two weeks after that there won't be any updates. But I will try to remind you lovely readers closer to the date so y'all aren't left wondering when I'll update. Until then enjoy!_

* * *

Emma woke up with a headache. That meant only one thing: this Saturday is not going to be a good day. At least it won't be until she gets together with the two Mills. Over the course of their friendship, Emma would find herself over at their house, after Regina and Henry had met up with her at the park, and joining them for dinner. Tonight, she decided, was going to be the night she finally makes a move and ask Regina out. Ever since she had boldly kissed Regina's cheek a week and a half ago, Ruby has been on her ass about asking the woman out.

Getting out of bed, Emma immediately headed to the bathroom to take some pain medicine. "Emma! Get your lazy butt out of bed!" The blonde just rolled her eyes. "I'm already up, Rubes. Plus it's a Saturday. Doesn't matter if I'm lazy today or not." Ruby popped her head in to the bathroom. "It totally does matter since you need to look nice for your girl when you ask her out." Emma rubbed her temples trying to relieve some of the pain in her head. "She's not 'my girl'. At least not yet…" Ruby gave a wolfish grin. "Thatta girl!"

Emma sat down on a near by bench and rubbed at her temples. She lasted about five minutes playing catch with Hughes before her headache started to worsen. On the way to the park she thought the pain meds were finally starting to kick in as the headache was subsiding but it seems too much exertion has made it worse. Emma hoped it would go away before they make their way back to the mansion so she can be her normal self when she asks Regina out. Hughes seemed to notice something was wrong as he tentatively walked towards the seated woman and laid his head on her leg while whimpering.

The blonde woman didn't even know anybody had approached her until a soothing hand landed on her back. "Emma? What's wrong?" Emma looked up at the voice through squinted eyes. "Hey Regina. I woke up with a headache. I took some medicine this morning but it's only getting worse. In fact I think it's turning in to a migraine." As soon as Emma closed her eyes she felt an arm go around her shoulders as another hand grabbed her right arm, pulling her to stand up. "I'm taking you home with us right now. I have the perfect homemade headache remedy and a nice dark guest room you can use to sleep until you feel better."

"But Mommy! I didn't even get to play with Hughes." Regina looked down at the dog dutifully standing by his owner. "We'll bring him too and you can play with him in the backyard." Henry immediately shouted in excitement, which made the blonde cringe in pain. "Henry, we need to be quiet because of Emma's headache. It's just like when mommy gets one, ok?" Henry put his little index finger up to his lips and nodded his head. Regina smiled down at her son before leading the blonde to her car.

Emma woke up disoriented. Her room was nowhere this dark in the morning. She wasn't even sure it was morning. She tried to recall having dinner with Henry and Regina but there was no memory of that happening. When Emma rolled over on to her back, her right foot softly collided with a body at the foot of the bed. Sitting up, Emma tried to see what she had hit but when she sat up the body stood up and barked, which made Emma realize it was Hughes. A few seconds after he barked Regina came rushing in to the room. "Is everything all right?" Emma smiled warmly at the other woman's concern. "Everything's great. Guess he got excited that I finally woke up. How long was I out?"

Regina visibly relaxed. "Well, you've been in here for a little over six hours since it's already half past eight." Emma's eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Six hours? Shit, Regina. I'm sorry, I didn't think I'd sleep that long." Regina waved a dismissive hand in the air. "It's perfectly all right, dear. You obviously needed it. How's the headache?" Emma smiled at the other woman. "Completely gone. That stuff you gave me was amazing. Started working really fast too." Regina motioned for the younger woman to follow her. "Yes it does work fast, which I'm so grateful for. I used to get migraines quite a bit when I was a principal at the elementary school since I had to deal with Mary-Margaret Blanchard."

Emma leaned against the kitchen counter and looked at Regina before busting out laughing. "Aw, M&M isn't that bad." The blonde received a raised eyebrow from the other woman. "Really, dear? The woman is always too happy, she wears grandmother clothes, and she actually believes in true love. It wouldn't surprise me if she thinks she can talk to birds." Emma laughed while shaking her head. "Yeah she can be a little much but she's sweet." Regina just hummed in acknowledgement while continuing to prepare a plate of food for Emma. Emma studied the brunette for a few moments. She was sure there was more to Regina's dislike but decided to let it drop.

"Just to warn you, I promised Henry he would get to play with Hughes tomorrow, and you too. Your trusty dog stayed by your side the entire time. He refused to leave you, even when Henry was trying to get him to play. The boy threw a tantrum when I went to put him to bed claiming he couldn't go to bed because he hadn't played with you and Hughes. He said, and I quote, "Saturdays are Emma and Hughes days and I didn't get my Emma and Hughes playtime in." It was so sweet that I promised he'd get to play with you both tomorrow. I hope that was ok." Emma smiled brightly at a shyly smiling Regina.

"Sure! That actually works out because Belle is coming over tomorrow and I'd just be the third wheel." Regina's shy smile turned in to a toothy smile. "Perfect. Why don't you come over for lunch tomorrow?" Emma stood up and made to grab her plate but Regina slapped her hand away and brought the empty plate to the kitchen herself. "You're ridiculous Regina and yes. I'd love to come over for lunch tomorrow and play with Henry." Regina turned around to smile at the younger woman before turning back to continue to clean the plate.

While she had the courage, Emma decided now was as good a time as any to ask the woman out. Closing her eyes to try to steady herself, Emma didn't see the brunette turning to look at her. "Emma? Are you ok? Has your headache come back?" Blue eyes opened right before Regina place her right hand on Emma's cheek. "No, no. I'm fine. No headache. It's just that I-" Emma cut herself off by grabbing the woman's waist and pulling her in for a gentle kiss. At first she received no reaction from the other woman but decided to be patient, she did shock the woman with a sudden kiss.

After just a few seconds Emma felt Regina moving her lips. Regina raised her other hand and grabbed Emma's neck, just below her jaw, and deepened the kiss. Once Emma's lungs began to beg for air, she broke the kiss and pulled back to look at the other woman, whose eyes were still closed. "Regina, would you go on a date with me?" Emma watched as brown eyes opened. Regina dropped her hands to Emma's chest and moved back ever so slightly. "You really want to date a single mother?" Emma nodded her head. "I find that very attractive." The blonde smirked when a slight blush covered Regina's cheeks.

"We're a packaged deal. You don't just get me." Emma rolled her eyes. "I know that, Regina, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I love Henry to pieces." A very small smile took place on Regina's mouth. "I can be very sarcastic and snarky, Emma. I'm sure you've heard the nickname everyone calls me: Evil Queen. You haven't seen the real me, dear. I'll scare you off." Even though Regina's face remained neutral, Emma could see the fear in the other woman's eyes. Emma fully wrapped her arms around Regina's waist. "I've seen you when you're sarcastic and snarky. I think it's kinda hot, to be honest." Emma smirked at Regina's eye roll. "But Regina, I have seen the real you. The sarcastic and snarky side is not you. You're the real you when you're with Henry, when you're with me. I like every side of you. Besides, if you can put up with my child-like behavior then I can put up with you snarkiness."

Emma winked before having arms wrapped around her neck. "I'm also almost ten years your senior, Emma. You'll get tired of me and-" Emma stopped the ramble she knew was about to happen by kissing the woman. "I like you, Regina and you like me. I don't think I'd be able to handle just being your friend for much longer. Can you?" Emma felt Regina sigh, more than heard it. "You're right. I think I died a little inside every time you smiled at me and I couldn't kiss you." Emma gave Regina a bright smile. "Well, now you can." Regina leaned up and kissed the younger woman. "Yes I can."

"So, is that a yes to you going on a date with me?" Regina chuckled against Emma's lips as she leaned up to kiss the woman again. "Yes, dear. It's a yes." Emma picked up the ever so slightly shorter woman and spun her around. "Yes! What do you say to Friday night?" Once put down, Regina stood back so she could pout at the blonde. "I have to wait till next weekend to go on a date with you? No, how about tomorrow night?" Emma furrowed her brows. "But I'm coming over for lunch tomorrow and I didn't think you'd want to go out on a night before work." Regina reached up to softly stroke Emma's cheek with the pad of her thumb. "Not normally, no but I really don't want to wait; I'm impatient with things I want. Un-unless it's too soon and you need time to plan."

Emma looked away to hide a blush. "Oh, I, uh, kinda already have a date planned out." Regina chuckled. "So tomorrow night then?" Emma kissed Regina's forehead. "Sure, tomorrow night." The blonde received the brightest smile from the other woman that's she's ever seen. "Excellent! I'm sure Kat will be able to watch Henry and Hughes can just stay here if you'd like. What should I wear for the date?" Emma walked over to the couch to retrieve her jacket. "Something warm and comfortable. Quite honestly, you might be able to just wear whatever it is you wear for lunch tomorrow. You look really hot when you wear jeans."

Regina let out a burst of laughter. "I'll keep that in mind though I doubt I'd wear the same clothes for our date that I wore for lunch." Emma just shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever suits you Regina. You'll look beautiful anyway." Emma is positive she'll never tire of being the cause of the cute blush that takes resident on Regina's face whenever she compliments the brunette. "Anyway, I should get going since it's getting late. I will see you tomorrow." Emma and Regina both walked towards the front door. "Yes, dear. I will see you tomorrow." Emma leaned in to kiss the other woman. She then winked at Regina before heading out the door with Hughes right on her heels. Emma was so giddy; for once in her life she felt that everything was going perfectly.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys! Hope all is well with y'all. So here's the next chapter. Yay! I will try to upload the 7th chapter soon since I won't be able to the rest of next month so expect it between a few days to a week. Hopefully. Things are getting hectic but a good hectic. Anyway enjoy!_

* * *

As soon as Emma woke up she popped out of bed and started to get ready for lunch with Regina and Henry. She had been so excited the previous night that she couldn't get to sleep. Ruby suggested she take a NyQuil. Emma finally took one around two in the  
morning so she slept until eleven.

Not wanting to be late, but wanting to look good even for the date, Emma was running around trying to figure out the perfect outfit to wear. "Em, I've got the perfect idea for what you should wear. Wear your normal tank top, jeans, jacket, and boots for  
lunch but bring that grey sweater that I say you always look hot in to change in to for your date."

Emma looked at her sister, thinking about what she had just said. She pulled a sweater out of her closet and turned towards the brunette. "You mean this one?" Laughing, as she just received waggling eyebrows, she started packing her sweater and things  
for Hughes in to her bag.

When she started to head to the front door, Ruby grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hey, she'll love the date. I promise." Emma took in a deep breath. "I hope you're right. I just feel so nervous about tonight." Ruby wrapped her arms around the blonde. "I'm  
going to spit your words back at you. She'll love it mainly since she'll be spending time with you."

Ruby grabbed Emma by the shoulders to look in to her sister's eyes. "Also you've been planning this for a month. I'm just jealous that I didn't think of this for my first date with Belle." Emma just looked her sister straight in the eye. "Not everybody  
can be as romantic as me." She then shot the brunette a toothy smile.

Ruby started laughing. "Yeah yeah. I know. Unfortunately that's what Belle keeps telling me when she found out your date plan. She keeps teasing me that she choose the less romantic sister." Emma just shrugged while she headed to the front door with Hughes  
hot on her heels.

Emma worked her excitement up so much she decided to run to Regina's, she didn't even think that she'd probably want to drive her car back home after the date. Emma and Hughes arrived at the Mills mansion both panting from running.

The door opened to reveal the very woman Emma couldn't wait to see with a raised eyebrow and mouth curled up in to an amused smile. "You just couldn't wait to get here so you ran?" The blonde could hear the excitement in Regina's voice despite her teasing.

Emma winked at the woman in the doorway. "Well, I just couldn't wait to see the kid and Hughes couldn't wait to play. Isn't that right, boy?" The husky barked as if answering in the positive. "You only wanted to see my son?" Emma got up in the woman's  
personal space and then shrugged her shoulder. "Maybe I wanted to see his mother too."

Emma leaned in and quickly left a kiss on Regina's cheek. The brunette lightly blushed while giving the younger woman's small smile. "You going to let us in? Hughes and I are starving. We did run all the way here." Regina rolled her eyes but stepped out  
of the way for the two on her porch.

"Henry is out back. He's been back there for twenty minutes waiting for you two. He demanded that I send you both back there as soon as you arrive." Emma made her way in to the den and put her bag and jacket on the den. Out of the corner of her eye, she  
noticed Regina's eyes were roaming her body. Emma turned to face the brunette and place her hands on her hips.

"Like what you see?" Emma gave the other woman a devilish smile when she saw yet another blush creep up on to the woman's cheeks. "Why yes, dear, I do like what I see." Emma felt a blush take residence on her face. So far she had been the bold one and  
wasn't expecting Regina's reply.

Emma watched, stunned, as Regina slowly made her way to the blonde with a seductive smirk. Emma felt fingers softly caressing her strong biceps. "You better head outside, Emma. I don't know how much longer Henry can wait before he combusts from  
excitement."

The blonde started to head outside but stopped when she felt a hand on her left cheek and her head being turned towards the owner of the hand. Emma didn't know what was going to happen until she felt plump lips on her cheek. Feeling her blush return full  
force, Emma turned towards the older woman who just winked at her and walked in to the kitchen.

Emma stood there staring after the woman even though Regina was no longer in view. Regina was a gorgeous woman and looked very sexy in her heels and power suits but hot damn, Emma just found out that when confident Regina Mills was a seductress. A huge  
shit eating grin broke out on Emma's face. Emma loved confident Regina and couldn't wait to see more of that side of the woman.

Turning, Emma and Hughes finally made it outside to Henry. "Emma! Hughes! Tag! Play tag!" Somehow Emma was it and was chasing a bit around the yard while she herself got chased by her dog who didn't really know what was going on other than his human was  
running around.

After a while tag turned in to airplane. Emma spent a good twenty minutes holding the young boy in the air so he could be an airplane. When the two were finally called in for lunch, Emma thought her arms were going to fall off.

"Kid, you wore me out. You're going to have to feed me yourself. I can't move my arms." Emma pretended to try to move her arms but to no avail. Henry looked up at the blonde and giggled. "You silly, Emma." Emma heard a throaty chuckle and turned to the  
source.

"Yes, Emma. You're very silly." Regina put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder and started to run her hand from the shoulder down to Emma's elbow. The hand then made its way across Emma's shoulder blades to then rub up and down along Emma's spine.

"I really enjoyed watching you play with Henry. I've never seen him bond with someone like he has you." Emma returned the smile she was receiving from the older woman. "Well I'm glad we have. I love the little man. It probably helps that I have a dog."

Both women laughed at that. "Yes, that's probably it. Dogs definitely help." Emma then raised a questioning my eyebrow while smirking. "Did my dog help me to get a date with you?" Emma watched as brown eyes slowly roved over her body before locking with  
her eyes. "I've never been the biggest fan of dogs. Come, let's eat."

After everyone ate, Henry went back out to play with Hughes while the women sat on he patio to talk and watch. Conversation was light, filled mostly with Regina trying to get what was going to happen on the date out of Emma. Regina tried the tactic of  
flirting heavily with Emma but the blonde was a flirting force to be reckoned with so the brunette didn't get anything out of Emma.

When the time for their date was nearing, Emma headed to the bathroom to freshen up and change tops. Once done, Emma started to head down stairs when she heard Regina and Kathryn talking.

"No, you're not leaving till I meet your date."

"Kat, please. You'll scare her with all of your questions you'll bombard her with. I want to enjoy the date before you get to her."

"I won't scare her! I just want to make sure her intentions are in a good place. Plus she sounds awesome since you couldn't get any information out of her."

After hearing Regina scoff, Emma decided to head on down. "Well, my intentions are to get to know her better and see where things go from there. How's that?" Once Emma was standing beside Regina, she wrapped an arm around Regina's waist and smiled brightly  
at Kathryn.

Kathryn easily returned the smile. "You two enjoy your date. I'll enjoy playing with a dog since my husband is allergic and I can't get one." Emma chuckled and looked in to the den where Henry was using Hughes as a pillow while watching tv.

Regina turned towards Henry too. "By Henry. Have fun with Auntie Kat!" Henry didn't even look away from the tv but waved his hand. "Bye Mommy." Regina shook her head and made her way back to Emma, grabbing her hand and heading out the front door.

"Ok Emma. Where are we going?" Emma just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "You'll just have to walk with me and find out." Emma laughed when Regina groaned and then playfully shoved her. "Fine. At least tell me how long it'll take us to walk there?"

Emma just walked in front of Regina and turned around, walking backwards. "You'll just have to continue to walk with me to find out." Regina laughed her laugh that Emma knew she would never tire of hearing. "Am I going on a date with a child?"

The blonde shrugged and then fell in line with the brunette. "I prefer child-like adult." Emma heard a chuckle and turned her head to the woman shaking her head with a smile. "Fine. I'm going on a date with a chile-like adult."

After another five minutes of eating, the women made it to a secluded part of the park where there was a blanket laid out with a picnic on it and the tree had lights strung on it. "Oh Emma. This is beautiful." Emma looked it to wet, brown eyes. "Well,  
a beautiful date for a beautiful woman."

The picnic was comprised of different sandwiches, fruit, cheesecake, and wine. The women spent their time learning little things about each other. Once they had finished eating, Emma leaned back against the tree with Regina leaning in to her side. The  
blonde wrapped her arm around the other woman's shoulders. The women had decided to talk about their pasts; the want to be able to fully trust the other woman with their fears and secrets was the driving factor.

"When I was three I had gotten adopted by a family. The Swans. They had been trying for years to have a child but after a while they were told she was barren so they adopted. I had been there for almost a year until she got pregnant. Since they were going  
to have their own child I got sent back. Ever since then I just got tossed around from foster home to foster home.

"I've had only two good foster homes. I even thought one was going to adopt me. I think they just couldn't afford to though. They weren't fostering for the check; the parents genuinely cared for everyone but I ran. I ran just like I did from every other  
home. I never got my hopes up so I was always expecting to be let down."

Regina leaned up and placed a kiss under Emma's jawline in a silent encouragement to continue. "Ruby and I helped each other through a lot of things. I was devastated when we got separated and I couldn't find her. Thankfully I had her when I went through  
my first breakup. It was bad. Lily was her name. We were sixteen when we met and were together until we were eighteen. Found her cheating on me with some guy.

"I always felt the need to run, to not let anyone close. When I finally found Ruby I moved here, made friends, got a job as what I love, and I met this gorgeous woman and her wonderful son. The need to run away is no longer there. I feel like I'm almost  
home."

Emma gave Regina a meaningful look, which made the brunette slightly shiver. Regina then leaned her head against Emma's shoulder and wrapped an arm around the younger woman's waist. "When I was growing up my mother tried to groom me to become a lawyer.  
She thought it would be perfect: her being mayor while she has a daughter who's a lawyer. Nobody liked her while she was mayor so by being her daughter, no one liked me. Except Kathryn.

"I don't know how but I'm very thankful that she didn't project my mother's icy personality on to me. We met in middle school and honestly I probably wouldn't have made it without her. It was actually because of her I realized I was gay. I had developed  
a small crush on her shortly after we met. Of course she was boy crazy so I knew it wouldn't go anywhere.

"I made sure my crush was gone before I came out to her. Freshman year was when I told her. Kat was very supportive and started pointing out all of the pretty girls. It wasn't until my senior year I had my first girlfriend. I just fell head over heels  
for her but I knew Mother wouldn't approve so we kept our relationship a secret.

"One day, when I thought Mother would be gone all day, Danielle came over. Mother walked in on us kissing and forbade me from ever seeing her again. I haven't even told Kat this but my mother was behind Danielle getting a full ride scholarship to the  
college of her dreams and paid her to never talk to me again. My own mother..."

Emma wrapped her arms around Regina when she felt the other woman starting to cry. Emma kissed the top of Regina's head, letting her know that she's there for the brunette. "I'm sorry Emma." Emma shook her head and gently squeezed the woman in her arms.  
"No need to apologize and you don't have to continue if you don't want to."

Regina managed to stop the tears and cleared her throat. "No, I want to continue. I want you to know why I hope you never have to meet her and if you do hopefully I can stop her from pushing you away." Emma just held on to Regina until she felt ready  
to continue.

"Anyway, once Danielle was gone I felt hollow and my mother tried to use that to make me the perfect little mayor. I did not want to be mayor, but I didn't really know what I wanted to be either. To this day I'm still not real sure how it happened. I  
was talking to a group of high school principals and was telling them how I didn't want to be lawyer and how I loved children. Next thing I know I'm hired as a principal instead. This was when I was your age.

"Oh, Mother was so mad and decided to disown me. Which was fine for when I met Robin, I didn't have to worry about her meeting Mother. She and I decided to have a child together but it turned out while I was pregnant with Henry she was cheating on me  
with her ex-wife. I think they're now remarried."

Emma sat there thinking how neither of them had the best childhood. "What did your father say when you came out?" Emma felt the other woman become a touch happier at the mention of her father. "He completely supported me. All he wanted was for his princess  
to be happy. Naturally mother wasn't too happy about his support for me."

"And what does your father think now?" At that, Regina sat up completely and looked up in to the sky. "Daddy died of a heart attack when I was twenty. You two would have loved each other, I'm sure." Emma smiled and lovingly rubbed a hand on Regina's back.  
"Well, I think we should head back. It's getting kind of late."

Regina nodded her head and started to help the blonde pack up. The women held hands the entire way back while Emma was telling more funny stories about the kids at her Krav Maga school. As soon as they had entered the front door, Kathryn was immediately  
on them.

"I am so sorry Regina. I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen to me. She's in your study waiting." Emma saw Regina tense as they headed to the study. The blonde put a comforting hand on the small of the older woman's back and felt Regina's spine  
completely straighten and shoulder square.

Entering, Emma noticed a small woman sitting at Regina's desk. "Ah, Regina. I was wondering when you were going to decide to get back. I'm surprised you stayed out this late, what with having work in the morning." Emma had a sinking feeling she knew exactly  
who this woman was and her suspicions were correct when she heard Regina speak. "What are you doing here, Mother?"


	7. Chapter 7

_Look at me guys! This is the fastest I've updated I believe. How does Emma and Regina handle Cora showing up randomly? Well, read and find out! :D enjoy lovely readers._

* * *

"Oh, speak of the devil." Emma only partially mumbled that to make sure all parties could understand it. Regina grabbed Emma's hand and tangled their fingers together. Cora sat there glaring at Emma. "Mother, I ask again: what are you doing here?"

Cora stood up and smoothed out invisible creases on her pantsuit. "Well, I heard that my daughter and grandson were smitten by some blonde woman and wanted to see if that were true. Looks like it is." Even though Regina was putting on a brave front, Emma  
could feel the hand she was holding trembling.

"Yes it's true and I'm smitten by your daughter and grandson too." Cora took a few steps closer to the two women. Emma thought that Regina was petite but Cora was smaller. Without her heels, Emma assumed this woman would come up to her chin. "Miss Swan,  
is my daughter incapable of speaking for herself?"

Regina gripped Emma's hand tighter and brought her other hand to Emma's forearm while slightly leaning in closer to Emma's side. "Of course she's capable of speaking for herself. In fact, Mrs. Mills, she's very, *very* capable at speaking."

Regina snickered before quickly straightening herself back up while Cora let her eyes slowly roam up and down Emma's form with a raised eyebrow. "Well, Regina I see you have a type. Tall, pretty blonde women. Except this one has a mouth on her."

"Aw you think I'm pretty." Emma watched as Cora clenched her jaw then looked at Regina. On the outside Regina looked calm, regal even. She was standing up straight, her shoulders were squared, a smirk on her face, and her jaw held high. Emma looked in  
her eyes and could see worry and a little bit of fear.

"Mommy!" All three women looked towards the door of the study. Little Henry stood there with Scales hanging from his hand. "I had a nightmare." Regina immediately started toward her son but stopped and looked at Emma and then her mom. Emma took Regina's  
had between her index finger and thumb and gave it a tiny shake. "Take care of him. I'll be fine."

Emma turned around and planted her feet shoulder width apart while crossing her arms over her chest. Cora reminded her of a foster mother she once had and she knows exactly how to hold her own against a woman like Mrs. Mills.

"So Miss Swan, how much will it take to get you to leave my daughter and grandson?" Cora went to her purse and pulled out her checkbook then looked at Emma expectantly. The blonde just burst out laughing. "I'm sorry Mrs. Mills, but those two people upstairs  
are worth more than all the money in the world. There is nothing you can offer me that will even come close."

Cora put her checkbook back in to her purse and walked to Emma until she was in the blonde's personal space. "You listen here, Miss Swan. I always get what I want, especially when it's the best thing for Regina. I managed to get rid of Danielle. All it  
took was a scholarship. I also got Robin to go back to her ex-wife. I do not like nor approve of you and I will find something to get you to leave."

Emma just raised an eyebrow. "What's best for Regina is someone who makes her happy, someone who loves her, supports her, and will be there for her no matter what. You honestly will try to get her to marry someone who she doesn't love just because you  
think it's best for her? Is what's best for her is to be miserable? What kind of a mother are you?"

Emma internally smirked when she watched the older woman bristle. The blonde knew exactly what buttons to push and it worked beautifully. "I am the kind of mother who wants what is best for her daughter and you are not it. You mark my words, Miss Swan,  
I'll either get you to leave or I'll get her to see that you're not worth it."

Cora walked over to her purse and snatched it up. She then straighten her spine as tall as it would go before storming out of the front door, not even seeing that her daughter had been hiding by the door and heard most of their conversation.

Regina walked in to the study and immediately wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulders and gave her a deep, passionate kiss. At first Emma was stunned and didn't react immediately but once her brain caught up she wrapped her arms around the woman's waist  
and kissed her back.

The women broke apart when the need for air became urgent. "Damn, that was hot." Regina chuckled before grabbing Emma's hand and leading her to the couch. "I have never seen my mother so flustered before. She's so used to people cowering just from her  
mere presence. I don't think she's met anyone as stubborn as you. Got to admit, it was hot."

Regina finished her sentence with a wink that caused Emma to slightly blush. "How much did you hear?" Regina shrugged and Emma wondered how the woman made shrugging looked refined. "Not sure. I'm going to assume most of it. Henry fell right back to sleep  
when I picked him up, so all I did was put him back in bed. I came back down when you were laughing and then said that Henry and I are worth more than anything. Did...did you mean that?"

Emma moved to kneel in front of Regina in order to look in to her eyes. The blonde was very familiar with insecurities as she still deals with them herself. "Of course I meant it, Regina. Everything I said to your mother was true." Regina grabbed Emma's  
head between her hands and brought her in for a sweet kiss.

Once Regina broke the kiss off, Emma gave a dopey smile while keeping her eyes closed. "I don't think I'm ever going to tire of kissing you." Regina gave a throaty chuckle and then pulled Emma back up on to the couch. "I want to let you know, Emma, that  
my mother can never deceive me in to thinking that you're not worth it. You're more than worth it."

Emma smiled brightly at that. She didn't take much stock in to what Cora had said but there was that little niggling thought in the back of her head that came back saying that she wasn't enough. "I'm so glad. This was some way to end a first date, huh?"

Regina chuckled while shaking her head. "Definitely not how I imagined it ending." Emma leaned in to Regina while waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "And how did you imagine this date ending?" Regina let out a bark of laughter while pushing Emma away.  
"Another prime example that I'm dating a child."

Emma chuckled and then quickly snuck in a kiss on Regina's cheek. "I should go, Regina. It's almost midnight and you have work tomorrow." Emma stood up but was stopped by a hand lightly grabbing her wrist. "I don't feel comfortable walking home this late  
at night. You don't have class in the morning so can you just sleep in the guest room tonight?"

Emma smiled down at concern in brown eyes. "Sure I'll sleep here as long as I can walk you to your room and give you a goodnight kiss." The blonde gave what she felt was her charming smile: all teeth with the right side of her mouth up just a little higher  
than the left. Regina stood up and linked arms with Emma. "I will allow you to walk me to my room. The goodnight kiss is debatable."

Once the women made it to Regina's room, Emma grabbed one of the brunette's hand and kissed the back of it. "I really enjoyed tonight and would love to go on a second date." The older woman smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Oh I'll have to think about going  
on a second date with you." Emma shook her head while smiling and then lightly grabbed Regina's chin. "Well I'm going to get that goodnight kiss."

After giving her a sweet kiss, Emma started walking backwards to the room she was going to sleep in. "Goodnight Regina." Regina just leaned on the doorjamb and crossed her arms. "Goodnight Emma." Emma turned around and immediately tripped over Hughes.  
She quickly jumped up and turned towards Regina to see her laughing. After glaring at the brunette, the blonde disappeared in to the room with her dog.

The next morning when Emma woke up, Regina and Henry had already left to go on about their day. So Emma got up, put her boots on, grabbed her bag, and then headed home. Once reaching home, Emma tried to go in to the front door but was pushed aside by  
Hughes. "Hey there you rascal." The dog made a beeline for his dry food and started chewing down.

Emma had just sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal when her sister crawled out of her room. "Em, if you're going to get home early in the morning it would be appreciated if you'd be more quiet." Emma just glared at Ruby. "Rubes, it's ten  
in the morning and Hughes couldn't wait to eat so he pushed past me knocking me in to the door."

Ruby just shrugged her shoulder and joined Emma in eating cereal. "Sooooooo, coming home this morning, Em. Did you and your lady get busy last night?" The blonde looked at her sister's waggling eyebrows. "Stop that, you look stupid and no, of course not.  
I'm doing things right with her. Plus her mother unexpectedly showed up and she tried to get me to break up with Regina and never see them again."

Ruby started choking on her food. "Cora Mills? THE Cora Mills? How did you survive?" With many question from Ruby, Emma finally relayed all that happened with Cora. "Wow, now that is a bitch and you weren't afraid of her? She is an extremely scary woman."  
Emma nodded her head in agreement. "I agree and I most definitely have to keep an eye out for her. I don't even know how she found out about me but now that we've met this ride is going to be bumpy before it gets smooth."


	8. Chapter 8

_Hello! I am sick with strep (joys of working with kids) so when I'm not sleeping or have a fiancée or sister to entertain me I wrote the next chapter. Yay! I would also like to apologize if parts of this doesn't read right. I blame my fever addled brain, not my writing skills :} ALSO since I've been bored I've had the idea of creating a tumblr where I can take prompts and post a slew of SwanQueen stuff. What do you guys think? Good idea? Let me know. I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be sick or if I can get another chapter in or not. It's a little bit less than a month till the wedding so this might be the last chapter until after the honeymoon but you never know with me! Anyway, enough of this, I'm gonna let y'all enjoy the chapter :)_

* * *

It was now the second week of December and Emma had finally finished the one class she was taking with an A. She wasn't going for a degree but was taking the classes her mentor felt she needed to take before she took over his school. Emma and Regina had decided to have a date once a week and that the blonde would join her and Henry for Sunday lunches at the diner. At first the other patrons were shocked that they were seeing Regina Mills smiling and looking happy with someone other than her son. They had decided to stare until one time Regina went to the restroom and Emma glared at all of them.

It had also been a couple of months since Cora had threatened to break them apart but so far nothing has happened. Emma didn't know if the woman was waiting for them to let their guards down or she couldn't find anything. Emma was definitely hoping it was the latter; the blonde did not want to deal with anything with Christmas being so close. That was another change for the blonde. Every Christmas there was a tournament that Emma would participate in. The past couple of years, after the girls found each other, Ruby would accompany her sister there so she would have someone cheering her on and so the blonde wouldn't be alone. Whenever Emma told Regina and Henry about it they both looked at her with the same sad eyes, pleading for her to stay with them for the holidays.

There was no way she was going to deny her two favorite people their request, and it wasn't like she wanted to be away from them on Christmas anyway, so this year she was going to spend Christmas eve with Ruby and Christmas day with the Mills. This was the first holiday Emma was actually looking forward to; she just didn't know what she was going to get her girlfriend. At Regina's persistent urging, Emma finally wrote down all of the stories she had been telling Henry at bedtime and asked Belle to help with the illustrations and then the binding of the book to give Henry so he could read her stories whenever she wasn't there. Regina was instrumental in giving her the idea for Henry's gift so she hoped that Regina's best friend would be helpful in giving her an idea.

That's currently where Emma was headed right this moment. Kathryn was more than happy to help with ideas, so she invited the blonde over to her house to talk while eating lunch. Emma had raised her and to knock on the door but didn't even have a chance to as the door was swung open. The next thing she was, she was being dragged in towards the kitchen by the other woman who was speaking a million miles per hour. "I saw you walking up and decided we needed to get right down to business. I just made sandwiches. I didn't think you'd mind that since Regina told me you are happy eating pretty much anything. By the way I think that book for Henry is SO adorable! He's going to love it. Anyway, you're here to get ideas for you girlfriend. I'm so thankful Regina has found you. She had pretty much given up after that Robin bitch cheated on her while she was pregnant. Whenever she started talking about you I thought maybe she would make a move but time continued to trickle on by and you two were still just friends but then she told me you asked her out and I was happy that at least one of you had your heads on tight. The way she would talk about you I just knew you were perfect for each other."

Emma finally grabbed the other blonde by her shoulders. "Kathryn! One day you and I are going to talk about what Regina said about me. You have peaked my interest on that but that day is not today. Today you are going to help me with ideas for her Christmas present." Kathryn nodded before going to put sandwiches and fruit on plates for her and Emma. "Right. Ok, well Regina is really hard to shop for. I'm her best friend and have known her most of her life and I still struggle to think of something for her. Let's see, what about something that has to do with her hobbies?"

Emma took a bite of her sandwich while dawning a pensive look. "She doesn't really have hobbies anymore except hanging out with me and…the kid. I got it!" Emma darted out of her chair and ran over to the other woman, squishing her in to a tight hug. "Thank you! I'm going to get started on it right now!" Kathryn's chuckling didn't even really register as she ran out of the house. She was a woman on a mission and she knew exactly what she needed to do. It was late at night when she had gotten it to the point where she just needed to add to it every once in a while until Christmas. Emma had just leaned her head on the back of the couch when Ruby came walking through the front door. "Hey there, Em. What're you working on?"

Ruby walked over and planted herself on her sister's lap. "This is Regina's present. I went over to Kat's today and she helped give me a jump start on this idea." Ruby looked over the present and then looked at Emma. "I think she's going to love it. Both of those Mills are going to love their gifts, Em. Especially since they're from you and you put thought and time in them." Emma hugged the brunette. "Thanks Rubes. I'm also pretty sure that you're going to love yours! It's a good thing you have the best sister, huh?" Ruby let out a laugh, with Emma soon joining, and then kissed her sister's temple before standing up. "Of course it is. Well I'm pooped so I'm going to bed. Night Em." Emma looked back down at her gift and smiled to herself. She was sure that Regina was going to love it and just couldn't wait to give it to the brunette.

Christmas Eve early morning, Emma was jolted awake from a very peaceful slumber by an overly excited brunette. "Wake up, Emma! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Emma quickly wrapped her arms around Ruby's shoulders and twisted, pulling the brunette on to the bed, and promptly laid on top of her and acted like she had fallen back to sleep. "Emma. Christmas breakfast! Presents! No time for sleeping!" The blonde just groaned and laid her full body weight on the wiggling woman. "Be still, Rubes. I wanna go back to sleep. We have all day for that stuff." Ruby started tickling Emma, which the blonde quickly jumped up and fell off the bed taking the sheet and comforter with her. "But Em, this is my first Christmas with both you and Granny. So get up now!"

Emma glared at her sister while rubbing her sore hip. "Fine. You're lucky I love you." Ruby's response was to lean down, kiss Emma's forehead, and then run out of the room while singing White Christmas at the top of her lungs. Emma shook her head at her sister's antics and followed her out to where the presents and Granny were waiting. The trio ate breakfast, opened presents, watched Christmas movies, and just enjoyed being with each other. Emma received several jackets to add to her ever-growing leather jacket collection. Granny received many kitchen-cooking utensils for her diner and Ruby received many wolf themed gifts because of her wolf obsession. Emma also got a wolf necklace from Ruby and she gave the brunette a swan necklace to symbolize their sisterly love for each other.

Night was fast approaching and Emma was starting to get restless. I was agreed that she would spend the night so she could be there in the morning when Henry first saw his presents from Santa. She wasn't supposed to head over to the Mills Mansion until after dinner with Ruby and Belle but she was starting to think she would not be able to make it till then. Emma noticed that Belle kept giving her a knowing smile. "Ruby, why don't we let your sister head on over to her girlfriend's? She's getting extremely restless and it'll give us more time alone." Emma couldn't help but to gape whenever the young brunette dropped her voice while giving Ruby a salacious smile. The blonde's gaping soon turned to laughing when Ruby started blushing and sputtering.

Ruby glared at Emma and made a shooing motion with her hand, which Emma then promptly jumped up to go change. She shot a quick text to Regina letting her know that she'd be over there early, putting on one of her new jackets, a blue one, Emma hopped in to her bug and headed on over to the mansion. Once pulling in to the driveway, Emma popped her trunk and retrieved the presents from the back of her bug. Regina and Emma had gone in together for some and Henry's gifts and were keeping them hidden from the curious boy in Emma's car. The blonde also kept both of her gifts to the Mills duo in the back. Emma didn't even get a chance to ring the doorbell when the front door was ripped open, the bag was taken from her hands, and then the lapel of her jacket was grabbed and she was being pulled in to a very heated kiss.

When the two women broke apart, Emma was grinning like a fool when Regina fully pulled her in to the house and closed the front door. "That is one of the best welcomes I have ever received." Regina chuckled lowly and raked her eyes over Emma. "You look very good in blue, darling." While Emma went to put her two presents under the tree, Regina hid the rest of the presents in the hall closet. Once Emma stood back up, after admiring the presents, she felt arms wrap around her waist. "Both Henry and I are really happy to have you here with us." Emma rested her hands on Regina's forearms while admiring the tree. "I'm really happy to be here. Speaking of the kid, where is he? Normally when I come here he either greets me at the door or as soon as I walk through it." Regina kissed Emma's neck then rested her chin on the blonde's shoulder; Emma would never tell Regina that she had to slouch in order for the shorter woman to be able to do that. "He wore himself out when he got overly excited when I reminded him about you coming over later tonight and spending Christmas with us. He's asleep in his room so that means we have a bit to ourselves."

The blonde turned in Regina's arms and pulled her in to a kiss. As the kiss went on the women kept deepening it. It had just started to get heated, with roaming hands accompanying it, when feet thundering down the stairs could be heard. The women broke the kiss but didn't separate from their old on each other. "Emma! You're here! See all the presents under the tree?" Henry wrapped his arms around the hugging women's legs to join them. "Hey there, Henry. Yes I see them all. D'you think Santa will visit you tonight?" The boy lifted his arms up in a silent request to be picked up, which Emma did. "I been a good boy, Emma. Course he will visit me! Have you been a good girl?" Emma kissed Henry's cheek, making him squeal in delight. "Yes, I believe I have been. Do you think I've been a good girl, Henry?" The small boy looked at her as he was thinking of the appropriate answer. "Yes, you have. Mommy too!"

The boy's mother chuckled. "Thank you, Henry. I believe Santa will visit all three of us tonight." Henry looked at Emma, mouth falling open as he gasped in excitement and Emma enthusiastically copied. Henry then threw his hands in the air while stage whispering 'yes' as Emma hoisted him in the air above her head. The boy then decided he wanted to be an airplane so Emma rested his legs on her shoulder and held the rest of him up in front of her. They did that until Regina called them in to the dining room so they could eat. After dinner it took Emma promising to tell two Christmas King Henry and Scales stories to get the boy to agree to go to bed. Regina and Emma were happy when Henry fell asleep halfway through the second story.

Once they had exited Henry's room, Regina took Emma's hand and looked at the ground while biting her bottom lip. "Emma, I was wondering if you'd…" Emma used her other hand to tilt Regina's head up so she could look in to her eyes. "If I'd like to what? Don't be afraid to ask me anything." Emma watched Regina take a steadying breath. "Would you like to sleep in my room with me instead of the guest room?" A huge shit-eating grin made it's way on to Emma's face. "Hell yes because I'd be able to wake up to your beautiful face." Regina's worried smile turned in to a bright one at Emma's reply. She then grabbed the blonde's hand and led her to her bedroom. The women took turns getting ready in the en suite bathroom. Once they got in to Regina's bed, they immediately cuddled up with legs intertwined, arms wrapped around each other, and Emma's face tucked in to the crook of Regina's neck. Emma took a huge inhale, breathing in her girlfriend's scent, before giving a light kiss to the skin readily accessible to her lips. "Goodnight, Regina." Emma felt Regina give her a little squeeze. "Goodnight, Emma."

Emma slowly woke up and felt pressure on both of her shoulders. Once her vision focused, she realized that she had Regina's head laying on her right shoulder while Henry was laying on her left. She had no idea when the boy joined them but she didn't care for she was immensely enjoying this moment. Emma softly kissed both sets of brown hair before she felt the other woman shifting until she was able to kiss the underside of Emma's jaw. Emma tried to subtly move so she could give her girlfriend a proper kiss without waking the Mills on her left side but she was not successful. Henry's head jerked up and he look at his fellow bedmates through half open eyes, which promptly flew completely open when he realized what day it was.

"It's Christmas! Santa was here!" The four year old jumped out of bed and made a beeline for the room with the presents while screaming 'Santa was here' at the top of his lungs. Neither woman made a move to get out of bed until they were both called upon multiple times. "Merry Christmas, Darling." Regina rolled over until she was lying on top of Emma and gave her a soft kiss. "Mmm Merry Christmas indeed." Emma and Regina smiled at each other before crawling out of bed to head downstairs. The two made it down just in time to stop Henry from ripping open a present before they were all ready. Regina quickly got the coffee started while Emma divvied out the presents. Soon wrapping paper was strewn everywhere and as is expected for a four year old, he received an abundance of toys. Emma got yet another leather jacket but this one was thicker and made for harsher winters.

Emma had made sure Henry and Regina opened their presents from her last. When Henry had opened his, he immediately got excited from the dragon illustration. "These stories are all King Henry and Scales adventures that I have yet to tell you. You can have your mom read them to you whenever I am not here to tell you one." Henry got up and ran over to Emma, wrapping his arms around her neck. "I'm in a book!" The blonde hugged the boy back. "I'm glad you love it." Henry sat down in Emma's lap while flipping through the book looking at the pictures. "Alright Regina. You need to open yours." Regina, nowhere near as rapid as the other two, opened hers up. Regina lifted the lid of the box up to reveal a red photo album with the words 'Adventures with Loved Ones' on the cover. She opened the book and flipped through the pictures of the three of them over the past several months. Emma watched as Regina slowly lifted her head to look at Emma with happy tear filled eyes.

"Oh Emma. This is perfect!" Emma put her hands under the boy in her lap so she could stand up without him having to move from his position; he didn't even pause in his page turning as Emma moved to the couch. As soon as Emma has sat down, Regina gave her a thank you kiss. "I'm glad you like it. At first I didn't know what I was going to get you until Kathryn said I should get you something related to your hobby." Regina chuckled and brought a hand up to stroke Emma's cheek. "It's perfect and I see there's plenty more space to fill up." The women cleaned up the paper while Henry played with his toys. The trio then settled down on the couch to watch Frosty the Snowman while drinking their hot drinks. The rest of the day was spent in much joy; the past two days being the best Christmas that Emma had ever had.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello all! Sorry for the long wait for the update. As I had mentioned (yet idk how many people actually read this notes) I had gotten married (I can now call the love of my life my wife! AH! :D ) last month and got back from my honeymoon a week ago. I had planned on updating right after getting back but work had gotten a little crazy from my being gone and I needed to fix it. Just a little self plug here: last month while I was sick I had made myself a tumblr under the same name (lady-lockwood) that's purely a SQ blog. You can ask me questions, send me prompts, or just talk to me on there! But anyway enough of that from me. I'm gonna treat ya'll to another update real soon to make up for that long wait but without further ado, the next chapter! Enjoy :)_

* * *

"Then she was laughing so hard hot chocolate started flying out of her nose!" While the three women around Emma were laughing hysterically, the blonde sat there glaring at her sister. "Laugh it up, _fuzzball."_ Ruby immediately sobered up upon hearing that nickname while Belle was intrigued by her reaction. "Emma, you have to tell me that story." If looks could kill, Emma would have been six feet under. Even Regina was interested. "Yes, darling, I would love to hear it too." Smirking, the blonde decided it was payback. "So one of the towns where we were in a foster home together had just one small theater. They had decided to show the Star Wars movies…" Emma trailed off when she felt Regina tense under her arm. Turning towards the woman, she noticed how pale she had gotten. "Regina, babe. What's wrong?"

A beautiful, dirty blonde woman walked up to the table. Emma watched the woman eye her arm on Regina's shoulders and then a hard glare was thrown her way before facial features softened when they turned to Regina. "Hello, Regina. Can I talk with you for a moment?" Emma noticed a soft British accent from the woman at the same time she felt Regina place a slightly shaky hand on her thigh. The blonde turned toward her girlfriend who had her 'Evil Queen' mask in place. "No, Robyn, you cannot talk with me for a moment. In fact, you cannot talk with me ever. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm enjoying a nice lunch with my girlfriend and my friends." To show she was there for the other woman, Emma gently pulled Regina further in to her side, which Regina gladly let her do. Robyn stood there looking as if she wanted to argue but after a challenging eyebrow raise from Regina and noticing the not-so-nice glares from the other two brunettes she turned and hightailed it out of Granny's.

Once the door shut, Regina sagged even more in to the blonde's side. Belle reached across the table and rested her hand on top of Regina's right hand. "Are you all right, Regina?" Regina used her hand still on Emma's thigh to straighten herself out. "Yes, dear. I'm perfectly all right, but I am afraid to say that I have to head home now." Emma slid out of the booth and waited for the other woman to get out too. Once she had helped Regina get her coat on, she quickly hugged the other two women before grabbing her girlfriend's hand and leading her out of the door. They walked to Regina's in silent, but Emma had a pretty good idea of what was going through the brunette's mind. They had been together for only four months at this point but the two had done a lot of talking; they had talked about their pasts, their fears, and their hopes. After hanging up their coats, Emma sighed when she saw Regina heading straight for her study.

After giving the older woman a few moments to herself, Emma headed in to the study and found her exactly how she expected to: with a glass of cider in one hand and the other resting palm down on her desk as if to steady herself. Gently, Emma made her way to the other woman and wrapped her arms around a petite waist. "What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?" Regina leaned further back in to Emma's front and rested her empty hand on the blonde's forearm. "This is my mother's doing. I just know it. She really doesn't want me back with her but she'll use Robyn as a pawn to break us up. Of course her attempts are futile but I just wish she could be happy for me. I'm happy and in love. I have finally found someone who will put my son and me first. Why can't she see that you're what's best for me?"

Emma planted a gentle kiss on the older woman's neck. "She has her own ideas of what's best and is set in her ways. You know what they say: you can't teach old dog new tricks. I feel that whatever she throws at us thinking it will tear us apart will only make our relationship grow. She very well may just tire of trying to break us up after she sees that there's no way I'm ever letting you go. No way I'm ever letting you or Henry go." Regina turned in Emma's embraced and pulled her in for a loving kiss. "I just wish I could forget about it." Emma smirked at the brunette and grabbed the cider out of her hand. "I can help you with that." Emma watches as a dark eyebrow rises in question. "How exactly do you plan on doing that, darling?" The blonde pulls the smaller woman flush against her. "Well, Henry still has a few more hours before you have to pick him up from his play date and honestly, I think you leave that last button on your blouses straining purposefully just to tease me. And I just have to do something about that."

A gasp was the only reply Emma got as she hoisted Regina up on to her desk and hungrily started kissing her. Regina wrapped her legs around Emma's waist and leaned her head back when the blonde started trailing kissing down her neck. "Are we..oh..really going to do this here?" Emma smirked as Regina's breathing was becoming erratic. The blonde unbuttoned the older woman's blouse and palmed a breast. "I have some fantasies about bending you over this desk and taking you right here." Regina groaned then grabbed Emma's head to pull her in to a bruising kiss. Once the women came up for air, Emma started to lean back and helped Regina on to her feet. She then turned the brunette around and wrapped an arm around her waist while leaning forward, making the woman beneath her use her hands for support. Emma sucked an earlobe in to her mouth while her free hand slowly trailed up the inside of Regina's thigh and under the hem of the woman's skirt. The younger woman moaned when she found out that Regina decided to forgo wearing any panties. "Oh god, Regina. That's so hot and you're just absolutely _dripping_."

Emma started teasing her girlfriend by lightly running an index finger up and down her wet folds while her other hand teased a taut nipple. Without applying the pressure Regina needed for her release, Emma started circling Regina's clit with two fingers. "I had plans for us, darling and-" Regina cut herself off with a gasp when the other woman pulled her clit between her thumb and index finger and started pinching it. The brunette fell to her elbows as Emma continued to tease her. " _Please,_ Em-ma." Pleased that she had brought the woman to begging, Emma removed her hand from the woman's folds that elicited a whine of protest from her. That quickly turned in to a low moan as Regina was being slowly filled from behind by two of Emma's fingers. Slowly pumping in and out, Emma leaned in to Regina's ear to whisper. "Is this what you were asking for?" The brunette could only nod causing the blonde to feel proud of herself for being able to reduce the always put together Regina Mills in to a hot mess. As Regina's moans became louder, Emma picked up the pace while using her hips to help. As she was nearing her release, Regina pushed herself further in to the blonde's front and grabbed the back of Emma's head for support. "Oh Emma. I'm so- I'm gonna-" Regina screamed Emma's name as she came. Her inner walls desperately clutched on to the intruding fingers causing them to still. In order to prolong the woman's orgasm Emma brought her other hand down to gently circle Regina's twitching clit.

Emma removed her hands once the woman came down from her high and then moaned at Regina's taste after she sucked her fingers in to her mouth to clean them. Having seemingly recovered, Regina twirled around to face Emma, a dangerous glint in her eyes. After Emma dropped her hand from her mouth her girlfriend pounced on her. Regina was kissing her with all teeth and tongue. One arm was wrapped around Emma's waist while the hand of the other arm cupped the blonde's sex. "I have a fantasy of my own but it involves the bed." After giving the apex of Emma's thighs a few rubs Regina turned to head to the bedroom while slowly stripping her clothes off along the way. Once Emma's brain stopped spazzing out, she quickly followed her girlfriend's footsteps while also stripping out of her clothes.

Henry was a little ball of energy as he, Regina, and Emma walked to Granny's after picking the four year old up from his play date. Well, walk was a relative term for Henry, as he wanted to be held by Emma as he told her all of the things that he and Nicholas got up to. The women walked hand-in-hand, something that took Emma a month to convince Regina to do. The older woman was uncomfortable with PDA as in the past she either got in trouble or everyone thought she was just using that person for some personal gain. The first time they were seen holding hands Emma heard some whispers but ignored them. It wasn't long before everyone in town saw the difference in Principal Mills and decided this relationship was a good one. Regina even started making new friends, along with Emma as the brunette decided to stop travelling for tournaments.

Before the trio made it to the diner they were stopped when a woman purposefully stepped in their way. "Regina please. Can I talk to you?" Even though Robyn was speaking to Regina she was glaring at Emma. The blonde started rubbing Henry's back when he stuck his head in the crook of her neck. Regina leaned further in to Emma's side and brought her hand up to grip on to Emma's bicep. "No, Robyn, I have told you that I do not want to talk to you." The woman sighed while running a hand through her hair. "Please, Regina. If you don't like what I have to say then I'll leave. Just give me a few minutes?" Emma looked at the brunette who was glaring hard at the dirty blonde. "If you want to listen to what she has to say then Henry and I will wait for you by the front. Ok?" The blonde watched as her girlfriend straightened her spine and put on a neutral mask. "Fine, Robyn. I'll listen to you but I have no doubt I will not like it."

Emma made her way to the front of the diner but made sure she stayed within earshot. Henry decided that he didn't want to come out from hiding even though they had walked away. "Start talking. You don't have long." Emma kissed the top of the little boy's head to make it look like she wasn't paying attention. "Listen Regina, I'm so sorry that I hurt you. I thought it would be the only way to get back in to my son's life full-time but the truth is: I never stopped loving you. I still love you and I know it will take time for forgiveness but I want you back in my life." No longer trying to keep up pretenses, Emma was full on staring in shock. The gall of this woman, coming back after all these years and claiming to still love Regina after hurting her. Emma looked to Regina who was working her jaw. "Four years. You cheated on me and broke my heart four years ago. You decide now, after all this time and after I've found someone else, to come back and claim that you still love me? No, you do not get to do that, Robyn. I'm not surprised that you and Marion didn't make it yet again. I knew I wouldn't like what you had to say and now that you've said it you may leave."

Regina started to walk around the woman to make her way to the diner but was stopped by a hand around her wrist. Emma was in the process of putting Henry down to make her way to the two women but stopped when she received a subtle shake of the head from Regina. The blonde still decided to take a few steps closer just in case. Regina turned towards Robyn, wrenched her wrist from her hold, and then crossed her arms across her chest. Even though Emma couldn't see it, she was sure Regina had an eyebrow raised at the other woman. "Cora told me how easy it was for her to get Danielle to leave. Just a simple scholarship to the college she wanted. Emma is a runner, an orphan. Has nothing to tie her down. How easy will it be for Cora to get yet another one of your loves to leave you, hm?" With that the woman turned and stomped away from Regina who was currently mimicking a statue.

Looking in to the diner, trying to catch Ruby's eye, Emma pointed to Henry once she had succeeded. Knowing exactly what her sister was wanting, the woman came and brought the boy inside promising him a milkshake. Emma slowly made her way over the statuesque woman. "Regina? Babe, are you ok?" Once she made it in front of the brunette, Emma saw tears running down the woman's cheeks while there was a far away look in her eyes. Reaching out with both hands to cup Regina's face, she used the pad of her thumbs to wipe away her tears. "Don't listen to what that bitch has to say. There is nothing your mother can do that will make me leave. Is there anything that will make you leave me?" Brown eyes looked in to blue while Regina shook her head. "No, of course not." Emma smiled and planted a kiss on Regina's forehead. "Exactly and that's how I feel. Now, do you still want to go in the diner or no?" Regina stepped further in to Emma's space, wrapped her arms around the younger woman's waist, and rested her face in the crook of Emma's neck. "I want to go home." Emma pulled out her phone to text Ruby to bring their food our to go along with Henry. As the women waited Emma tried to think of ways to get Cora to leave them alone and to stop hurting Regina.


	10. Chapter 10

_Hello! Nothing really to say here other than one more pitiful self-plug for my tumblr lady-lockwood xD sometimes my wife gets on there since she is also a fellow swen so follow me and talk to us. You don't have to though. Not like gonna make you, I would just appreciate it...anyhoo no more of that. Bad Charlie, bad! Lol anyway enjoy!_

* * *

Emma and Ruby decided to have a sister's day, so the both of them were currently at the park with Hughes. Ruby was trying to play fetch with the Husky but every time he brought the ball back it was to Emma instead, which of course the blonde found very funny. "Why do your animals like you better than me?" Emma just looked at her sister with confusion written all over her face. Ruby started to blush and turned away to throw the ball again. "Shut up. Never mind. So have you thought anymore on what you're going to do with the Cora situation?" The blonde sighed and rubbed at her face. "I don't think there's anything I can do that will get that woman to stop. All I have to do is keep being there for Regina and let her know that I love her and am not leaving her for anything." Ruby looked at the other woman with a smirk. "Have you actually told her you love her?" Emma rolled her eyes at her sister. "We've only been dating for four month, Rubes." The leggy brunette sat down next to her sister and grabbed her face between her hands. "So? You just said you needed to let her know you love her and what better way than by telling her? Just tell her already."

Pulling out of her sister's grip in order to throw the ball for the whining dog, Emma knew that Ruby was right and wanted to put off her sister becoming all smug. "Fine, I'll tell her but only because I really love her and not because you told me to." Ruby held her hands up in surrender but did so with a huge grin on her face. "Just as long as you tell her. I just want to mention that I told Belle that I love her when I asked her out." Emma leveled the other woman with a glare. "That's because you'd been in love with her for four years before you even womaned up and asked her out. It was only a month after I met Regina that we started going out." Ruby crossed her arms with a huff. "Whatever." Right when Emma was about to say something else her phone started to ring. "Oh hey, it's August. Hey Pinocchio, what's up?"

"Really, Em? Please don't call me that!"

"I just couldn't help myself."

"Sure. So how're things on the hot girlfriend front with whom I've yet to meet?"

"If you were to just come here to Maine you'd meet and things are good between us. Her mother on the other hand…"

"Ah yes, Cora Mills. She's a real piece of work."

"Tell me about it. Just last week she sent one of Regina's exes to try to break us up. The woman cheated on Regina over five years ago. I'm surprised Cora thought that would work."

"Wow, that's crazy. You know what else is crazy?"

"What could possibly be as crazy as Cora?"

"Lily has been asking for you." At this Emma went completely still. She didn't even hear both August and Ruby asking if she was all right. Emma was too busy trying to think back to make sure there was no way that Lily could find her or if there was any way Cora would be able to find out about her and send her their way. She did not want Regina to have to deal with somebody trying to steal Emma away from her. Ever since her encounter with Robyn, Regina has become clingy. Emma would never admit this out loud to anyone but she has been slightly enjoying it, knowing that someone loves her and wants her enough that they're afraid of losing her. Ruby was the only other person to love her that much and now she has both of the Mills.

"Is there anyway she can figure out where I am? Or Cora finding out about her and sending her here?"

"I'm not sure but I highly doubt it. She had just left my front door when I called you. I'm pretty sure I'm the first one she's asked though I don't know why she'd wait this long to get in to contact with you."

"She's probably in some trouble and wants my help. What did you say to her?"

"Just told her there was no way in hell I'd tell her where you are."

"Thanks, man. Keep me posted?"

"Sure thing."

"Awesome. Love you, dude."

"Love you too, dudette. I'll talk with you and Ruby later. Maybe make plans to come visit ya'll. Bye." Emma hung up and then collapsed on to the bench with her head in her sister's lap. "So what was that all about?" The blonde grabbed her sister's cold hand to place over her eyes because she felt a headache coming on. "Apparently Lily is asking where I am." Emma looked up at her sister in surprise when she heard the brunette growl. "I'm not afraid to cut a bitch." She grabbed Ruby's chin to force her to look down at her. "Hey, promise me you'll let me handle Lily if she does manage to find her way here. And I promise I will call you if I need your help. Just don't do anything that will get you arrested." Ruby rolled her eyes and smacked Emma's shoulder. "You should know me better than that. I'm not going to get caught." Emma gave Ruby a playful glare before shooting up and running away with Hughes hot on her tail. "Last one to Granny's buys the milkshakes!"

After finishing her milkshake that Ruby begrudgingly paid for, mumbling that the blonde cheated and she needed money for her date with Belle, Emma headed home to get ready for work. All the while she was thinking what she would do if Lily were to show up in Storybrooke. She hasn't seen the woman in six years and highly doubts she wants to ask Emma to come back to her but is in trouble and wants help. Well, whatever the case may be she's going to get a 'go to hell and never come back'. Thoughts of Lily and Cora were swirling around in the blonde's head and nothing seemed to be able to change that until she pulled up to work. Emma could not believe her eyes at the scene she pulled up to. Everyone was standing around outside, people screaming for their loved ones, fire trucks everywhere, and the building she felt as a second home was up in flames. Right as she went to go look for someone who could give her answers, someone grabbed her arm. "Emma! I don't think Jordan has made it out. I thought she was right behind me but as soon as I turned out when I made it out she wasn't there. We were in the back. I've asked them to help but they say it's too dangerous to go in the front."

Emma looked at the building and ran a hand through her hair. There was a door in the back that wasn't obvious. She debated telling the fire fighters or to be an idiot and get the girl herself. "The fire is mostly in the front of the building?" Seeing the mother nod her head in affirmation, Emma made up her mind. Looking around to make sure no one was paying her any attention she ran off to the side of the building to make it round back. Once she had made it to her destination Emma noted that it looked pretty calm in the back, if it weren't for the massive black smoke. After trying the door to make sure it wasn't too hot to touch and wasn't locked, Emma threw the door open and started calling for Jordan. "Jordan! Sweetie I need you to call to me. It's Miss Emma!" Not receiving a reply Emma grumbled under her breath and headed inside. She noticed that the fire had almost made its way to the back but it was already filled with smoke. Getting down on all fours Emma ventured further in the building. "Jordan! Where are you?" Lying near the wall was an unconscious girl. Emma quickly crawled to her and noted she didn't look injured. Just as soon as she scooped the girl up the wall that had been preventing the fire from completely invading the back fell. Emma turned to shield the girl and as soon as she felt it safe enough she ran for the door.

She kept running towards the EMTs and as she got closer she saw Jordan's mother, Ruby, Belle, Regina, and the Sherriff, Graham, looking at the building with worry. Emma had to stop running as her lungs were hurting from all of the smoke inhalation. Emma was about half way to the group when the building completely collapsed. Turning to continue to walk forward she noticed that the mother had fainted and that Graham had to hold Regina back as she was trying to run to the building while calling Emma's name. Belle was the one to notice them; pointing in their direction that got the medics attention and they ran up to them. One took the girl from Emma and put an oxygen mask on her. Another escorted Emma to a different ambulance and started to check up on her while having her also breathe from an oxygen mask. As soon as she was declared perfectly fine and stood up, a body crashed in to her and wrapped their arms around her neck. Her girlfriend was sobbing and Emma was surprised she could make out what she was saying. "You idiot! You could have died and I would have lost you! What would I do then? What would Henry and I do then? Idiot, don't ever do anything like that again, you hear me Miss Swan?"

Emma tightly wrapped her arms around the woman. "I'm so sorry, Regina. But look I'm fine, I'm here, and I promise to never do anything like that again. Ok?" She felt the woman nod against her neck. Emma quickly talked to her mentor, Charlie, who said that the owner of the building wasn't interested in rebuilding. Charlie also said that he was ready to retire and was only holding off for Emma but that he was still willing to help whenever she needed it. The blonde was not allowed out of the brunette's sight so she ended up going home with her and having a movie night while cuddled up on the couch with Regina and Henry. In the morning, after promising to come over for dinner, Emma started heading home. She had yet another problem to deal with: she no longer had a job. The previous evening she had many calls from other dojos wanting her to come instruct at their school but that would have to mean her moving away.

On her way home people had been calling her 'savior'. She figured it came from the previous night but why they were calling her that name was lost on Emma. As she was passing by Granny's Graham came running up to her with a paper in his hands. "Hey there, Savior. I have a question for you." Emma looked at the man with burrowed eyebrows. "I have one for you too: why is everyone calling me 'savior'?" Graham just smiled at her and handed her the paper. The headline read: **Savior Saves Seven-Year-Old Girl From Burning Building**. Emma handed the sheriff his paper back to him. "Well, that answers one question. Ask your question and hopefully both will be answered." Graham looked at her with an amused look, which Emma answered with a glare. "Sorry, so here's the deal: I need a deputy, a good deputy, and I was thinking that since you no longer have a job, you have self-defense training, I'm pretty sure you'd pick up how to shoot a gun quickly, you'd be the perfect candidate. I've already run it by the mayor and he agrees with me. So what do you say?"

The blonde stood there gaping at the man. This was one job she would never have thought about. "Uh, ye- uh, sure. Yeah. Sounds awesome. Never thought about going in this direction but sounds good to me. I'm guessing there's paper work I'm going to need to fill out so when do you want me to drop by?" In his excitement, Graham wrapped his arms around Emma's waist, picked her up, and spun her around. After realizing what he was doing he quickly set her down and ran his hand through his hair. "So sorry about that. I just got, well, excited. I'm actually on my way to the station to fill out paperwork so whenever you're free today just drop on by and we'll get the ball rolling." After agreeing and saying her goodbye Emma headed home yet again.

Once arriving home she immediately noticed that the front door was no longer closed. Knowing that Ruby sometimes forgets to lock the door, it was very likely that someone had just entered and could very well still be inside. Slowly opening the door all the way Emma crept in to the house as to not make a sound. Upon entering the kitchen the blonde was shocked as to who was sitting at the kitchen table. "Really, dear. Are you really that reckless to keep the door unlocked?" Immediately Emma's anger flared up. "What the hell are you doing in my house, Cora?" Cora just rolled her eyes and opened her purse. "It's really rude to call your elders by their first name. Show some respect." Balling up her fists, Emma tried really hard not to punch the woman. "I'll ask you again, _Cora_. What. The hell. Are you doing. In. My. House?" Cora pulled out a piece of paper and slowly waved it in front of her. "I heard about your martial arts school going down in flames and that the building owner isn't going to rebuild. Shame, you were going to take over the business, weren't you? Now you have no building to do that and since you have no money to buy yourself one I have here with me a check for one hundred thousand dollars. It's yours to do with as you please but it comes with one stipulation."

Emma just continued to glare at the woman, not even moving. "Let me guess: leave your daughter and never speak with her again." Cora's smile held no mirth. "You're smarter than you look. Yes, dear. That is exactly it." The woman held the check out in Emma's direction, who took it and immediately ripped it to shreds. "Like I've said before: there is nothing you can do, say, or offer me that will get me to leave her. So you might as well face the fact that I will always be in your daughter's life. Now, I don't care what you think about me but you keep hurting your daughter. Don't you love her? Don't you want what is best for her? What kind of a mother are you?" At that Cora shot up out of the chair and got in to Emma's personal space. "Of course I love her and want what's best for her. That's exactly why I want you out of the picture. I will do whatever it takes to get rid of you. This was only the beginning." Emma watched her girlfriend's mother storm out of her house and decided that she was going to have a big talk with Ruby on remembering to lock the front door.


	11. Chapter 11

_Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. Life, ya know. So to make up for it here's a nice long chapter! I'll try not to make y'all wait too long for the next one but no promises hehe sorry. But y'all have waited long enough so without further ado the next chapter. Enjoy! :)_

* * *

Ruby and Emma were sitting on a bench in the park watching Hughes chasing squirrels. "So you start this Monday?" Emma nodded her head, her blonde hair bobbing with the motion. "Yep! Graham and I finished everything that needed to be done this morning. At first I didn't know how to feel about this but I'm really excited about being a deputy. Crime isn't high here but I can still help people." Ruby wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders and roughly pulled her in to a hug. "Thank god crime isn't high here. If it were I'd probably try to talk you out of this, Regina probably would too, but I'm really proud of you, Em." Emma squeezed Ruby's waist just as a voice sounded behind them. "I'm pretty proud of you too, Emma." Both girls whirled around to look at the voice's owner.

"August!" Emma jumped over the back of the bench, tackling the man to the ground, as Ruby ran around the bench to join them on the ground. "Oof, Emma! Are you trying to get me hurt?" The blonde jumped to her feet and offered August a hand. "Sorry. I just got so excited to see you! You told us you weren't coming until next week." Once everyone was back on their feet August wrapped both women in to a fierce hug. "Well, I just couldn't wait to see my two favorite ladies so I just came down here! Decided to surprise you both." Ruby pulled away and crossed her arms over her chest. "You most definitely surprised us both. Creeping on us in the park. How did you even find us here?" August just rolled his eyes. "I went to Granny's first and she said I'd probably find you two here playing with Hughes."

At the mention of his name, the dog ran towards the three and started running circles around them. "Great, now I have a hyper dog. This was supposed to wear him out, not give him extra energy." The trio started to head towards the girls' home with Hughes excitedly leading them. "If only a certain four year old were here that dog would be worn out." Emma just nodded her head in agreement. "You're talking about Henry, right? Your girlfriend's son?" The blonde quickly pulled up a picture of Henry sleeping cuddled up to Hughes. "That's him. He's so cute. I can't wait for you to meet both of them." Suddenly a mischievous smile crept on to August's face, making Emma feel nervous.

"Oh, I can't wait either so I can tell Regina all of the embarrassing Emma stories that I know." Emma then wacked him on the chest with the palm of her hand and abruptly stopped in front of him. "No August! I already have Ruby telling her all of these stories. I don't need you telling her some too!" August attempted to get the blonde in to a headlock but she was too quick for him. "C'mon Em! What is family for, huh? Siblings are supposed to tell embarrassing stories and you've got two, so deal with it." Ruby vigorously nodded her head before linking arms with the man and trudging ahead of Emma. "Guys! That's not fair! Belle already knows most of Ruby's stories and August isn't dating anyone that we know of!"

Regina and Henry came over for dinner in order to meet August. Emma was currently hiding her face behind a pillow while August spoke. "And then she yelled 'I'm the king of the world!' and promptly fell off the chair. Knocked herself out cold. I ended up taking her to the hospital and good thing too because she had a concussion." Emma felt a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back but because the hand's owner was laughing she didn't feel soothed at all. "I am so talking to Kathryn tomorrow." Regina moved her hand to wrap around Emma's shoulders. "She's sworn to secrecy. Plus, there's not much to tell." Emma smirked and couldn't hide her enjoyment. "Oh? Two words: closet and tank-top."

Emma's two foster siblings were trying to hold in their laughter as Regina's face went white and her mouth opened and closed like a fish. "I can't believe she told you that! When did she tell you this? Oh that woman's going to get it." Emma then turned her smirked towards the other two, which prompted them to stop laughing. "Oh Rubes, Belle knows about the trunk of your car." Emma's smile turned more feral at Ruby's gasp. "And August, well, Regina knows about the door incident." August stood up and pointed an accusatory finger at Emma. "She-Devil!" Emma wrestled her foster brother to the ground, with a 'sweetie, be careful' from Regina. Henry, seeing the two adults wrestling on the ground, decided he wanted to join them. He teamed up with his favorite blonde and together they pinned down August.

Regina had left an hour ago with a sleeping Henry and Ruby had gotten a text from her girlfriend so she left to be with her, leaving bonding time for Emma and August. "Remember that one time you beat Billy's high score at the arcade and he couldn't figure out who ES was so he was interrogating everyone?" Emma started chuckling. "Yeah and when he asked me I just told him that ES sounds like an awesome person. I also decided to beat my high score and put 'ES=Emma Swan'. I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel!" At this point August was full out laughing. "He couldn't believe that a nine year old beat him. I gotta say: you were my hero." The blonde lightly shook her head as her laughing subsided. "I'm so glad we stayed in contact, Pinocchio." The man lightly slapped Emma on the shoulder. "Don't call me that. I'm no longer obsessed with that movie and I'm glad too. I'm also glad that you found someone like Regina." At the mention of the woman's name, a loving smile planted itself on to Emma's face. "Yeah, me too. Her and Henry both."

Emma looked at August and noticed the happiness radiating from his eyes. "I think you found the one for you." The blonde leaned in to her foster brother's side. "Yeah, I think I did." They sat there in silence for a few moments before August broke it. "Emma, I, uh, think Lily knows that you're in Maine." Emma quickly sat up to look at the man. "What? How is that possible?" August sighed and ran a hand over his face. "It's kind of the reason I'm here a week early. I had just purchased my plane ticket to Portland when we ran in to each other, literally, which made me drop it. She picked it up and looked at it. There was a look in her eye that told me she knew I was going to visit you so I changed my ticket for the next day so she couldn't follow me."

Sighing, Emma stood up and started pacing. "Ok, so she knows I'm in Maine. No biggie! Storybrooke is kind of hard to find and she could just think that I'm in Portland. You came early so no way she's following you. I'm 99.9% sure she won't find me. It's all good." August stood up so he could stop Emma's pacing. "Then why don't you look like it's 'all good'?" The blonde dramatically threw her arms out to the side. "Because she knows I'm in Maine!" The dramatics just earned an eye roll from her companion. "You just said it was no biggie that she knew you were in this state. Like you said: this town is hard to find. It's so small it's not on any maps. Even if she did find you, you have me and Ruby." Collapsing on the couch, Emma released a longsuffering sigh.

"I don't even know why I'm letting her get to me. Surely she doesn't expect us to start up our relationship again." August lifted her feet, sat down, and then laid Emma's feet on his lap. "Maybe her conscience has been eating away at her and wants to earn your forgiveness." At that Emma snorted. "If she wanted forgiveness she shouldn't have lied to me about so many things and then cheated on me as well. I just want to forget about her and never deal with her again." August squeezed her shin. "Well, she's going to have to get through Regina, that's for sure. That woman protects what is hers and you, my dear swan, are hers." Emma laughed and fondly shook her head. "You're right but I don't want her to feel that way. She's already worried about her mother. Oh god, I haven't even told her about Cora coming in to my house." August promptly slapped her on the stomach. "What is wrong with you, girl?"

Emma huffed at slapped at his hand. "I don't want her worrying more than she already is. Cora has already sent Regina's ex her way. No way I'm going to tell her she tried to pay me to leave after burning down my dojo." August ran a hand through his hair. "Have you gone to the authorities about that?" The blonde let out a humorless laugh. "I have no proof. She just indirectly implied that she was the reason it burned." Emma's foster brother leaned his head on the back of the couch. "Cora Mills is a piece of work. I hope she learns soon that you're not going anywhere." Rolling her eyes, Emma replied, "Yeah, that'll happen when pigs fly." August looked down at his lap, seemingly lost in thought before quickly pushing Emma's feet off of him. "Well, I'm sleepy so I'm going to sleep. Night!"

A week, and many more embarrassing stories from August, later Emma was sitting in Regina's kitchen after having just dropped her foster brother off at the airport. Emma was noticing that her girlfriend looked a little stiff as she was preparing her famous lasagna. "Babe, what's wrong?" The blonde heard a quick exhale come from the brunette. "Wrong? What makes you think anything is wrong?" Even though Regina's back was to her, she still lifted a questioning eyebrow. "Well for starters you don't look anywhere near as relaxed as you normally do when you cook. Also, you're mumbling to yourself. You do that when something is bothering you." Regina sighed and turned toward Emma with a palm pressed to her forehead. "You start your first shift tomorrow…"

Realization dawned on her. "Regina, I'll probably just be filling out paperwork or getting kittens down from trees. The crime rate is practically nonexistent here." The brunette huffed and turned back around. "But it still exists." Emma sighed and walked over to Regina, wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist. "I'll be fine. Remember what I promised you the day of the fire?" Regina nodded and turned so she was facing the blonde. "Yes, I do remember." Smiling, Emma leaned in to kiss the other woman. "I love you, Regina." Emma heard the older woman's quick intake of air. "You…do?" Gently cupping Regina's face, Emma placed her forehead against the other's looking in to her eyes. "You are just an incredible woman, Regina. The question is: how could I not love you?"

Regina threw her arms around Emma's neck and brought her in to a fierce kiss. Breaking apart, both women were panting. "I love you too, Emma. I love you so, so much." Few minutes later the oven timer went off breaking the spell the women were in. "Darling, why don't you go get Henry? Dinner is almost ready." Pecking the women one more time on the lips, Emma headed up to Henry's room to get him. "Kid, dinner's almost ready. You need to wash your hands." Walking in to his room, Emma found him hunch over his desk coloring vigorously. "Kay, wanna finish this first." The blonde sat down next to the boy. "Whatcha drawing there, Hen?" Henry moved his arms in order to cover up the paper. "Not finished yet." Chuckling she held her hands up in surrender and patiently waited for the boy to finish.

"Done!" The four year old leapt out of his chair and pushed his picture in to Emma's face. "Back it up there, buddy, I can't see it." Henry handed her the picture so she could see it better. "That's mommy, that's me an' Hughes and that is you holding mommy's hand! Oh, and here is your kitty in the back. It's our family!" At those last three words Emma started to tear up. "Yeah, Kid, our family. I love it Hen." Henry grabbed her hands and started pulling her out of his room. "Dinner time!" Emma trailed behind Henry as they made their way to the kitchen. Henry showed his mom the picture, which she hung on the fridge. Regina, seeing Emma's watery smile, kissed her and told her she was loved.

Yet another week had gone by and Emma's first week as Deputy was pretty dull. She was right when she told Regina she would mostly be doing paperwork and rescuing kittens. That of course didn't stop Regina from demanding that Emma text her whenever she could so she'd know the blonde was all right. The women had decided to meet up at Granny's right after Emma's last shift of the week for dinner. As soon as Emma sat down next to the brunette, the older woman grasped her hand and didn't let go the entire time. They really hadn't been able to see each other much as Emma had worked the long shifts in order to get the hang of everything. The two were walking to Regina's when they heard someone calling Emma's name.

Once Emma saw who was calling for her, the blonde was certain she was sleeping and having a nightmare. In order to check she let go of Regina's hand and pinched herself. Much to her chagrin she was awake. "How the hell did you find me?" The blonde was acutely aware of Regina possessively taking a hold of her arm as she watched the person in front of her rub the back of their neck. "Well, my mom knows someone who knew exactly where you were. I tried to convince August to tell me but of course he wouldn't." Emma clenched her jaw, trying to not wrench her arm from Regina's hold in order to punch the other person. "What do you want, Lily? I made it very clear that I wanted nothing to do with you ever again." The blonde almost looked at her girlfriend when she heard a growl come from the other woman when she said Lily's name but she just didn't want to take her eyes off of the unwanted visitor.

"I know, I know. I just… I wanted to make amends. I would like to be friends, Emma. I know what I did was unforgivable but I've been miserable without you in my life. I feel utterly horrible for what I did and I just need you back in my life, even if I can't have you the way I really want." The blonde scoffed at the other woman. "No you can't have me back and no we can't be friends. You really shouldn't have come here, Lily." Emma started to turn and leave after Regina tugged on her arm but was stopped by Lily grabbing her other arm. "Wait, Emma. Can I at least explain myself? I know that won't make up or excuse what I did but can I at least do that?" Staring at the woman, Emma warred with herself. She wanted to know why she wasn't good enough for the other woman but that was in the past. She had someone now who truly loved her.

Looking in to Lily's eyes, Emma couldn't tell if she was being genuine or just acting. "Fine. Meet me here tomorrow at noon. This isn't a guarantee to anything, got it? If I don't like what you have to say or just don't want you here and I tell you to leave, you leave. No questions asked. Understood?" Lily sighed in relief. "Thank you, Emma." The blonde rolled her eyes. "Don't go thanking me yet." The dark haired woman nodded her head. "Of course. I'll see you tomorrow. You look good by the way." Lily started rubbing her hand up and down on Emma's arm. Before Emma could even react Regina pushed herself in to the taller woman's space. "Keep your hands off my girlfriend. Got it?" Lily staggered backwards in shock. "Of course. Sorry. Later, Emma."

Emma quickly wrapped her arms around the seething woman, who looked about ready to attack the retreating form. "Hey, hey. She's not worth it. I'm sorry about that though. It was such a shock seeing her, I didn't really know how to react." The blonde felt the other woman sag in to her. "I don't like her touching you and why did you agree to talk with her?" Sighing, she rested her chin on Regina's shoulder. "I'm curious about what kind of story she'll weave. Also I figured once she got to say her peace she'll leave us alone for the rest of our lives." Regina slowly nodded her head. "Fine but if she even THINKS about trying to steal you from me she'll wish she were dead." Emma's eyes widened at Regina's dark tone. "Woah there feisty. Even if she does try you have nothing to worry about, as it is you who I'm in love with. Nobody is stealing anybody, ok?" Regina wrapped her arms around Emma's waist and planted her face in the crook of the blonde's neck. "Good because I'm in love with you too."

The next day Emma was sitting in a booth chuckling at the text she just received from her girlfriend. "What're you laughing at?" Emma looked up at Lily with a smirk. "Regina just said she's pretty certain she can reach in your chest and retrieve your heart with her bare hand if you even think of touching me." Emma took slight enjoyment in Lily's face paling and her nervous laughing. "Wow, fierce one you got there." The blonde just hummed in response. "Enough small talk. Tell me what you've come here to tell me." Lily looked down at her lap. "Straight to business. Alright, so I lied about not having parents because they, well more my dad, practically kicked me out when I told them about being gay. I mean they let me stay home but told me they didn't want to see me so I said I didn't have any. I know I should have been truthful with you seeing as you really didn't have parents or a home."

Emma drew in a deep breath. "Fine, I'll give you that. I understand parents not being accepting of their children being queer. But like you said, you're gay, how are you gonna explain cheating on me with a guy? How are you gonna explain that anyway?" Emma watched Lily take in a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds before slowly letting it go. "I was an idiot. I have no excuse and you don't deserve that. Honestly, I was scared because my dad found out I had a girlfriend. He didn't know who but he just kept pushing and pushing saying I hadn't found the right guy. So, one night I got drunk and made the worst decision of my life. Drunk me decided to test my dad's theory and the result was me losing you. I know I can never make up for what I did, how much I hurt you, but it has been eating away at me for all these years. I just had to let you know that you did nothing to deserve that and I am utterly and completely sorry."

The blonde looked down at her hands that were lying on top of the table. She didn't know if she could believe that the other woman was genuinely sorry but she decided to give the brunette the benefit of the doubt. "I can't accept your apology yet, if ever, but I'm going to have to think this over on my own. I don't like holding grudges, you know that and looking back at our relationship now I think we would have made better friends anyway." Emma could tell the other woman didn't agree with her last statement but Lily's chance had come and gone and she wasted it. "Of course. I totally understand. If you don't want to ever see me again I will leave and never try to contact you again. I promise."

The way Lily said that sent Emma's gut spiraling. Something wasn't right and she was glad she hadn't sent the other woman away immediately as she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had a sneaky suspicion that a certain snake was responsible for Lily finding her. "Who told you where I was?" Lily looked surprised that Emma had spoken to her beyond what was already said. "Uh, one of my mom's friends. A Cora Mills." Emma tried her hardest to keep a neutral look. "Ok, well I'll let you know of my final decision soon." Lily gave Emma a slight nod before getting up and leaving. The blonde then closed her eyes and laid her head on the table. She knew she smelt a rat when Lily did show up just a week after asking August for her whereabouts.

Emma immediately headed to Regina's as the older woman needed to know that it was her mother's doing in Lily finding her. She also needed to let her girlfriend know about her mother trying to pay Emma to leave the brunette. Emma just hoped that Regina wouldn't be too angry with her for not telling her. The blonde felt her palms sweating as she stood in front of Regina's door. Thinking that she needed to get it over with she rang the doorbell. The look of relief on the brunette's face broke her heart. The women made their way to the kitchen. "Regina, we really need to talk." At the look of horror on Regina's face Emma realized how bad that sounded. "Oh gods no. Not like that. I'm sorry, babe. There are just some things we really need to discuss that unfortunately involve your mother."

Regina slowly sat down in one of the chairs and ran her hands over her face. "You really scared me there, Emma. When you said that, I feared that she had somehow convinced you to take her back. Don't ever do that to me again, Miss Swan." Emma leaned across the table to kiss her girlfriend. "Of course. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to feel or what to think right now that my brain isn't really functioning right now." Regina nodded her understanding. "So what now has my mother done?" Emma took a deep breath before telling Regina about her mother's visit and that she was responsible for Lily finding her. For a while, after she finished talking, Emma stared at the older woman as she sat there staring at the table with her lips pursed. "Why didn't you tell me about my mother sneaking her way in to your house?"

"I didn't want you to worry more than you already are, Regina." The brunette reached across the table and grabbed Emma's hand. "Darling, I want you to tell me these things, all right? I can handle things as long as I have you by my side. I fear there's just always going to be that slight fear I'll lose you. It doesn't mean that I don't trust you because I do. I don't trust others and my past tells me that I will lose you." Emma tugged on Regina's hand until the woman got up and made her way in to Emma's lap. "You're not the only one, babe. All my life I've just wanted a family and after all these years I have one and a wonderful woman who loves me. There's probably always going to be a small part of me that's waiting for the other shoe to drop. I guess that's going to make us hold on to each other just a tad tighter. We're perfect for each other."

Regina smiled and kissed the blonde. "Yes we are. Now we know that Lily is another of my mother's scheme to get us to breakup but does Lily know she's a pawn or not?" Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly don't know. I didn't tell her to go because I wanted to find out if she was being honest or not and if she is being honest then she would just be another person from my past I didn't fully lose." Emma watched her girlfriend's jaw work. "Well, I still don't like her being here." The blonde nuzzled her nose in to Regina's neck. "You have nothing to worry about." Regina sighed. "I know. Move in with me?" Snapping her head back, Emma let her eyes roam over the brunette's face. "You're not just asking me that because of Lily are you?" The older woman wrapped her arms tightly around Emma's waist and laid her head on the blonde's shoulder. "Of course not. I had actually planned on asking you last night before that woman showed up."

Emma smirked at the woman's jealousy but didn't say anything about it. "You know you won't just be getting me. You'll be getting a dog and a cat too." Regina softly chuckled. "I know. There'll never be a dull moment here anymore. Hughes can't sleep in the bed though. Made that mistake once and he cuddled with my girlfriend, efficiently twat blocking me." Emma loudly gasped. "Oh my god! I can't believe you said 'twat'! Miss Regina 'never says a crude or curse word' Mills. This day is looking up." The woman being teased just rolled her eyes and slapped the blonde's shoulder. "Just answer my question, will you?" Smirking, Emma laid a kiss on Regina's neck. "Yes, I'll gladly move in with you." Regina promptly jumped off of Emma's lap and started pulling her towards the stairs. "We can worry about my mother later. Right now Henry is at a play date so why don't we celebrate your moving in?" Emma's day was turning out better than she thought it would.


End file.
